We asked our team members for their thoughts on what they would like to read about in our upcoming blogs and client profiles/client stories seem to be a hit so over the next few weeks we will be sharing some of these amazing stories with you!

Jayden Thurston was the first client to personally message us with some ideas for these blogs so we took that as him putting his hand up to go first ha ha!

Jayden joined our contest team in 2017, he worked with Zac over a 16 week period to prepare for the ICN (icompete natural federation) Brisbane Super Show in October 2017, his first show as a competitor. Jayden competed in the Male Fitness category and looked awesome on stage! Jayden's journey is a special one as not only did he transform his body and compete, he lost 24.5kg in the process! Yes that's 24.5kg during the 16 week period! Massive!

So let's get some insight into competing from Jayden's perspective ....

Age? 24 years

From? Sydney

Why did you want to compete? I have always been a competitive person, playing soccer at a young age and at 19 years I decided to start going to the gym, which started as a social activity, training with friends but not taking it too seriously. About 4 years later I found that passion and drive that I previously had with soccer which lead me to wanting to experience the competitive nature of bodybuilding whilst pushing my body to the limits.

How was your first contest experience? Amazing! From the comp prep to the seconds before taking my first steps on stage there is nothing that you could compare it to. Over the 16 weeks leading up to the contest, I lost 24.5kgs dropping my body fat to 7% and roughly 76kgs for the men's fitness category. Sadly, I didn't walk away with any placings but got something even better .... I learnt to push myself mentally and physically knowing how far I could really take it. There will be times over the preparation phase where you will struggle with motivation, be tired and get food cravings but that's what decides who really has it and wants it more. Personally I found I felt my best at 8 weeks into the prep as I had really adapted to the clean diet and I had all this natural energy from eating all the right foods to fuel my body correctly.

When you do like to train? I prefer to train the the afternoon, straight after work, which for me is at lunch time, so I am able to get in before the peak rush and avoid waiting for equipment; other people prefer to train in the morning, so it's about working out what is best for you.

What is your favourite body part to train? My favourite day would be leg day! Once I focused more on training my legs, I saw a huge improvement in the growth of my entire body.

Do you have a pre-gym ritual? Do you use supplements pre/during your workouts? I use a pre-workout supplement prior to training but make sure I take 1 week off it every 6 weeks so my body doesn't become dependent on the caffeine and to truly get the most out of the supplement. My pre gym ritual is always making sure to get a medium-high carb meal in 45mins-1hour prior to training as I can never train on an empty stomach.

Next goals? I am planning to compete again! I am about to start another 16 week prep phase for my next competition - the NABBA/WFF federation in Men's fitness model.

Team ReWard have been second to none for myself from the beginning of my journey, I have to give a lot of credit to them, from the support on those low motivation days to the hours leading up to stepping on stage and helping every step of the way.

This transformation was possible with Jayden's 100% commitment to his nutrition, training and stage preparation. The results speak for themselves! We absolutely love working with Jayden, he is an asset to our team and we cannot wait to see him hit that stage again! Follow Jayden on this journey @jayden.thurston

Happy New Year! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year period! We had a lovely few days with family and then the year just took off, we can't believe we are well into January already, hence why this post is a little late!

Contest preparations for upcoming competitions are underway and our competitors are absolutely smashing it! Zac is literally jumping out of his skin for the team he has right now, that includes on and off-season clients.

Posing coaching has also begun, first with our ICN competitors in VIC and NSW who will be stepping on stage first and our IFBB competitors went to their first IFBB posing workshop on the weekend and had a blast! One of our team members who wasn't going to compete until later in the year asked Zac (aka informed him) they are going in a comp much much sooner!

Someone else (you know who you are) got the itch last week too, we actually knew both of these champions wouldn't be able to wait until later in the year so we had a good giggle when they came to us with an 'idea'! Both of them have maintained outstanding physiques during their off-seasons so yes a shorter prep than usual is totally possible!

Hopefully you have checked out our video's from the gym shoot we did with a bunch of our competitors, one video is up to 60K views which just blows our minds as the day we posted in onto social media we said we would be stoked if it hit just 1K!

Thank you for all the support throughout 2017, we really appreciate it! We promise 2018 is going to be an even more of a blast!

So now it's all about training, eating and posing all the way to comp day! Stay tuned!

Woo hoo! Preparations have begun for 2018 contests!

Some of our competitors started their 16-20 week preparation phases this week! Super exciting for them! More competitors will begin their preparation throughout December and more through January, ready for a big Season A! Start date is based around their chosen contest date and through our assessment of how long they will need.

We have clients preparing for a range of divisions, in bikini, sports model, fitness model, physique and bodybuilding. We have many clients getting ready for their first contests and some preparing for bigger goals this year. Many clients will be competing with ICN in 2018 and others who have their sites set on the IFBB and WBFF stages. We are very excited to share that we are now featured on the ICN Australian National website, for our coaching services! Check it out here ICN Australia

For those of you still thinking about competing, we will be taking on a few more clients between now and the end of November, so let's chat!

Last weekend, a group of Team ReWard competitors had a blast doing a video shoot with William Taylor(photographer/videographer) at Camperdown Fitness, we cannot wait to share the videos with you all soon!

Next week is last week of the Summer Body Hack Challenge #1, those 12 weeks have flown! Everyone in the challenge has done an amazing job, transforming both physically and mentally. We look forward to showing you all some of their transformations, for those who are happy for us to share! We will also be awarding the $500 cash prize to one very dedicated member!

The Summer Body Hack Challenge #2 members are now in week 8, so week 12 will be here before we know it, they are also all doing a fantastic job with their own transformations!

We will be attending as many bodybuilding competitions as we possibly can in 2018, we are very particular about supporting our clients when they step on stage and we also love when other team members come to watch and support. We will keep you all updated when each contest is coming up so you can come along! As 2017 comes to and end there is no slowing down for Team ReWard, onto another big year in 2018!

Stay tuned for the new videos!!

Shoot by Durran Olsen fitness photographer

What a weekend, what a way to finish the contest season for Team ReWard!

As most of you know we finished the 2017 contest season with the ICN BrisVegas Super Show at the Brisbane Fitness Expo last weekend. We had a team of competitors who entered the show and so many supporters who came to watch!

Day 1 kicked off with Matt Oliver in bodybuilding, his 3rd contest for the year. He took out 1st place Men's Bodybuilding Juniors (under 21's!), 2nd place Men's Bodybuilding Open, 1st place Champion Posing award and we scored a Champion Trainer award! Matt was in his best condition yet, leaner than ever with some very impressive muscle gains he has made over the past few months, resulting in his best package yet. His posing routine and stage presence blew us away, his energy was infectious. Huge thanks to Bruce Hatfield for his posing coaching work with Matt leading up to this comp. Shoutout to Matt's gorgeous partner (and ReWard client) Courtney for her support all weekend. We look forward to what the future has in store for Matt!

Day 2 began with Jayden Thurston making his debut in Men's Fitness, his journey to the stage involved a 24kg weight loss, amazing transformation! We have watched him not only physically transform but mentally too. He loved the experience and is already planning to do it again! He will be working with coach Zac over the next few months to continue to transform his physique with new goals in sight.

Next up on day 2 was Lindsay Whyte for his debut in Men's Muscle Model and Men's Physique. He joined the team at about 12 weeks out, as a previous bodybuilding competitor and with such drive, coach Zac was excited to work with him. Lindsay showed continued dedication to his prep and enjoyed his stage time and already has goals set to compete again next year!

Flic was next to hit the stage in the Bikini Pro Qualifier, her one and only contest for the year, something she had kept fairly quiet about as it was her biggest challenge yet. After her 2016 Bikini Open win at the same contest, she had her sights set on winning her Pro Card. She missed out this year but won't be stopped, she is already itching to get back on that stage and try again!

Last but not least was Kieren Lefevre who competed in his 3rd contest for the year, taking out 3rd place in Men's Physique Novice and 4th place in Men's Physique Open. Kieren has shown absolute dedication this year, he has given 100% to every aspect of his prep. Kieren first competed in Men's Bodybuilding before mixing things up and competing twice in Men's Physique. Kieren's posing and stage presence on the weekend was his best yet, he was bubbling with energy and confidence. Can't wait to continue to watch him grow as a competitor!

Congratulations to Kaylee Vernon for her first ever bikini contest, as a posing client of Flic's we enjoyed following her journey and watching her stage debut and look forward to see her continue her contest journey next year.

Huge shoutout to Mariam Goodridge (aka Mim) for flying up to Brisbane to support the team, she was a huge motivator and massive help to all competitors and was the photographer for the weekend, capturing all on and off stage moments!

Thank you to all clients, friends and family for all your kind messages and calls of support over the weekend! We just feel so loved right now!

Our big weekend wrapped up with a well deserved meal at Grill'd burger on Sunday night with the team, followed by a photoshoot on Monday morning with Flic and photographer Durran Olsen

Now we are getting ready to begin preparations with our new contest clients who will be hitting the stage early 2018, can't wait for another big year of competing for Team ReWard!

Ps. to check out our team on Instagram, click on their names.

Gosh it's been ages since our last blog! Our attention has been pulled in so many other directions over the last few months!

Zac officially left the Navy in August and is now the full time ReWard boss! This coincided with moving house (again), which always comes with frustrating unexpected situations, is there anyone out there who has had a stress free moving experience? We are still in Sydney, just few suburbs over. It has been a big transition, from one extreme to the other, from Zac always being away to suddenly home 24/7 but we wouldn't have it any other way!

We have been really focused on improving our service to clients, updating our website, social media pages, adding new programs, getting an app (excited squeal) and always taking on more study! Flic is now taking on her own clients, she is loving working with some of our female clients.

We had a great response to both our Summer Body Hack Challenges, both underway and all clients are absolutely smashing it! The first group are now halfway through and our second group are 2 weeks in. We are currently taking on clients for Season A 2018 contests and looking forward to another big year with our contest team next year.

Our Season A and Season B competitors have been absolute champions this year, we have loved sharing every moment of their contest journey with them. We are now one week away from the last contest of the ICN Federation Australian season, the ICN BrisVegas Super Show at the Brisbane Fitness Expo, we have a team of clients heading there to compete and can't wait to share the weekend with you all, what a way to finish the competing year!

Flic & Zac

Ps. We also had a fantastic photoshoot recently with our clients Kieren & Mariam, here is a shot of Kieren straight after his bodybuilding contest debut!

Many of you may have seen Mariam throughout our social media pages over the last few months as she embarked on her journey as a first time competitor and completely smashed it! We asked her to tell us about her experience with us and here it is ...

'My health and fitness journey took a more serious turn after I had my second child. I am a mother of two kids, aged 6 and almost 4. I put on an excess 15 kilos with each pregnancy and by my second pregnancy I decided that I would make a big change to my eating and exercise habits. I went through phases of weight-loss, getting really strong, then changing my workout styles and eating habits and going through cardio based workouts which did not help me with my goals. It was all a learning curve and I'm glad I went through it as it taught me a lot about what works for me and what doesn't and it soon turned into a passion. I learned that strength training works for me but I needed to get my nutrition on point and I didn't know who to go to. I got myself a personal trainer who suggested the idea of competing, I said to him I would never compete because I couldn't put my body through the intensity of the diet and who needs a medal anyway? Well ... things then turned around, leading up to Christmas 2016, I couldn't get the idea of competing out of my mind.

Every year, my husband asks me what my New Year's resolution is, my response this year was that I wanted to take my fitness to another level and as I heard myself say this, I thought about the idea of competing again. I did some research on bodybuilding contests and felt that I was getting nowhere, I knew I needed someone to help me, many people said "you really need a coach if you want to compete" and I totally agree.

One afternoon, earlier this year, I was at my local shops and noticed a really stunning, fit looking couple, causally grocery shopping, I quickly noticed the guy's muscle shirt - ReWard Fitness & Nutrition, I punched it into my phone to look up when I got home. It must have been fate because they were personal trainers, contest coaches, posing coaches and offered nutrition plans, all the things I had been looking for, it was meant to be! I emailed them with an enquiry and Felicity responded super fast, all the information was there and it was now up to me to make a decision and I thought, let's go for it!

The first time I met Felicity and Zac, we just gelled, they were so professional, full of knowledge and life and thoroughly attentive. I came to them expecting to possibly compete in Season B (at the end of this year) because I didn't think I was anywhere near the image for competing but Zac reassured me it could be done for Season A (first half of the year, about 16 weeks away) which took me by surprise. Their last words to me at our first meeting was "we want you to win!", this scared the hell out of me but also made me so excited, so I said yes!

Throughout the 16 weeks of contest preparation, Zac and Felicity's guidance was nothing short of amazing, the support, the constant contact, the advice and personable approach was the absolute best. Incredibly they also supported me emotionally when my nerves hit and I was freaking out about being on stage and when certain family members weren't supportive.

In regards to the nutrition, I cruised through it, the plans Zac set out were easy to prepare, suited my lifestyle perfectly and kept me full all the time, it didn't feel like a 'diet'. I had a great sense of accountability to Zac which kept me 100% compliant to the program. I took my food wherever I went, even to engagement parties and girls nights. With the posing for stage, Felicity's elegance, knowledge and skill is what brought out my confidence, I started out very uncoordinated, awkward and stiff but by the end of our posing sessions, my posing flowed nicely, comfortably and effortlessly and I was enjoying brining out my sexy side. Support continued into the week before my contest ('peak week'), contest day and following onto the next contest just 2 week later.

On contest day, Flic and Zac were there early and fully equipped with everything I needed, their advice on preparation for the big day was precise and accurate, I would not do anything differently. To my shock, I came home with 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals, a 3rd place and a 5th place, I competed in bikini model division for the first contest and fitness model division for the second contest, after receiving feedback from the judges. With my family, friends, my gorgeous kids and my coaches Felicity and Zac all supporting me loud and proud, I will never forget how amazing this journey has been. This is only the beginning for me and I am completely confident that Zac and Flic will take me into my next goal with flying colours. I don't know where to start with Zac and Flic, they are just amazing and I would recommend their expertise to anyone. I feel that not only have I gained knowledge through these fabulous coaches but I have also gained 2 friends, they have changed my life.

Thanks to the ReWard method for post contest management, I was able to completely eliminate the nasty post contest blues and weight gain that is talked about in this industry. Zac and Flic have personally been through all post contest scenarios and with this experience they have the knowledge to assist their clients to avoid the negative things that can happen. This is absolutely crucial to my journey, I am now loving life even more with the abundance of healthy food choices to focus on building muscle while staying nice and lean.

This power couple, with their brand ReWard, will take over this industry, as their way is the ONLY REWARDING way to transform and be the BEST version of yourself!'

Follow my journey with Team ReWard on Instagram @mim_lift

Yep, she knows how to bring a tear to our eyes, firstly when she walked out on stage for the first time, then when she took home all that gold, silver and bronze and now this .. too much! We have absolutely loved working with you Mariam and getting to know you and your beautiful family. We cannot thank you enough for the support. We look forward to many more contests, posing sessions and coffee dates! Xx

Many of you may have seen our client Cameron on our social media pages last year when he competed in his first ever bodybuilding contest and took out second place! Cameron stepped off stage with an even greater fire to get back up there again, so he and Zac got to work to continue to improve his physique ready for his next contest goal.

Cameron has absolutely smashed his program from day one, with 100% commitment and 100% drive. Cameron was already very active at one point Zac had to ask him to back off the cardio lol!

Cameron and his wife Michelle have been a huge support for us since we started, we cannot thank them enough!

We asked Cameron to give us some insight into his journey with us so far to share with you all ....

'Well it has been almost one year since I have been with ReWard Fitness and Nutrition and so much has changed in my life, mentally, physically and location. When I first met Zac he was a young sailor who came onto my Patrol Boat, he was keen, enthusiastic and ready to learn, it was here I was first impressed with his positive, focused personality; he would workout when ever he could. During this period he met Felicity and I still remember him telling us he just met the girl he was going to marry! I left Darwin shortly after this and moved to Canberra after about a year or so I ran into Zac who was now then working in Canberra and was completing his personal trainer and nutrition qualifications and competing for his professional status in Men's Physique Bodybuilding.

I had tried crossfit which I found just didn't suit me and was into F45 but the contests they run are designed for 20-30 year olds not guys in their late forties with injuries. Zac told me he was starting his own business and asked if I was interested in being coached, I explained that I was but had recently recovered from double knee surgery, he assured me he could tailor a package for me and that he did.

During my first contest preparation with Zac and Flic, I sustained a torn calf (my fault) which Zac was able to manage my program around, to not impede on my rehabilitation. I also got married during this phase and again Zac was able to work around that to allow me to enjoy some food on my wedding night.

The posing coaching that Zac provided was great and ensured I certainly felt confident when I got on stage for the first time, plus having both Zac and Flic there to support me in Brisbane on the day. I placed 2nd in the Masters 40+ Mens Bodybuilding at the ICN Brisbane Super Show!

Not long after this I was posted from the ACT to WA, I was planning on doing a show in early March in VIC but Zac in his wisdom suggested I maintain weight and think about preparing for a show in May in WA, once again the advice and knowledge was spot on. Zac was able to provide me with a diet which I could easily maintain on our road trip across the country and once we were settled in WA, Team ReWard got to work getting me ready for my next contest.

In the time I have had with Team ReWard, I have been impressed with several things;

- Zac and Flic's positive, enthusiastic nature

- Their professionalism (if they don't know an answer to a question, they are not afraid to say so but will work to get you the right answer)

- It feels like a family, if you are competing or just being a better version of yourself, the love you get from other members is amazing

- They understand people have set backs and are always supportive, not judgemental

- Both are competitors themselves, so they walk the talk and really understand what you are going through

- They have life experience (they understand shift work, long hours and busy periods)

I started my journey at 115kg and sit nicely at 95kg and about to step on stage in one week at 88kg with approximately 8% body fat. My plan, as I started later in life, is to learn and grown in my last 18 months as a 40+ bodybuilder then be ready to dominate the 50+ category, with Team ReWard in my corner I know this will be my reality! So sign up and see what they can do for you!'

Here is Cameron at this first contest, watch out to see the changes he has made when he steps on stage again in just over one weeks time!

Client Sophie has recently completed her 12 week body transformation so we asked her to give us some insight into her journey ... She literally wrote us an essay, which we loved, so wanted to share some of that with you all!

Sophie's New Year's resolution was to lose some weight and improve her fitness, 'I typically didn't eat much throughout the day, ate relatively healthy on most occasions (or so I thought until learning more through this program) and I enjoyed treating myself to the odd wine, cheese and pizza night (I mean, who doesn't!) but I also didn't exercise as much as I should, so it was time to make some changes!. Before getting started, information was obtained in order to construct a suitable plan, tailored to our individual bodies, needs and goals'.

Sophie was introduced to ReWard by her partner, Ryan, who has also completed a body transformation with us. This year they decided to begin their programs together, utilising our couples program!. 'Ryan and I jumped straight into it and for the next 12 weeks we did our weekly shopping, weekly meal preparation and went to the gym for our weights sessions together. I also had a specific amount of cardio to complete each day as part of my program ... I combined a mixture of outdoor walking/jogging with my dog'.

'Although I have had gym memberships in the past and attended classes here and there, I have never had a meal and exercise program that motivated me (and gained results!) like this one did. It certainly took some adjusting but I can honestly say now that I couldn't imagine going back to a daily life without this amount of exercise and my whole outlook on my daily food intake has completely changed for the better. Getting to this point wasn't without hard work, commitment and a few personal hurdles along the way'.

During the first few weeks Sophie was feeling surprisingly full, 'I was finding the amount of food difficult to eat, now having 6 meals a day, compared with prior to the diet being lucky to have 3. My body went through so many changes, some physical but surprisingly more mental and hormonal changes! I did find myself comparing myself to others who were doing the program at the same time. For a while there I wasn't seeing huge changes on the scales and put so much pressure on myself that Week 5 included a bit of a breakdown (sorry Zac and Ryan!). Zac handled this so professionally and gave me excellent advice, as well as very interesting education as to the many things that my body was actually experiencing that I could not physically see. This included, firing up my metabolism with all of the meals and exercise and gaining muscle, which was impacting what I was seeing on the scales. Zac encouraged me to persevere, change my perception of the process and to stop pressuring myself to see dramatic change (which he explained would stimulate my stress hormones and hinder my weight loss!). Zac changed the process for me from here and I stopped weighing myself each week and focused more on progress photos instead. It was amazing how such a small change impacted my mental state and also my physical results! After sending my weekly report and photos in Week 6, Zac sent me back this photo showing the changes I hadn't realised I was making!'.

Sophie was required to check in with Zac once per week and had unlimited contact during the week for questions and advice. Sophie found that doing her program without a face-to face trainer was much easier than she expected. Each week she reported to Zac about her week, which meant he could alter her nutrition plan and/or her fitness plan if needed to further her results. 'He would answer any of my questions and provide me with awesome education regarding nutrition and exercise, which was great for my own knowledge about my body and taught me a lot about portion sizes and healthy alternatives to foods I otherwise would have eaten. The weekly reporting gave an added sense of accountability, to work hard each and every day and to think twice before giving into temptation and cravings, knowing that each week was another opportunity to improve on my results from the previous week. Around Weeks 8-10 I had to buy all new clothes as everything was now far too big, especially my pants!'.

Slip ups do happen, for Sophie this involved her best friends wedding and a family gathering; the key for her was getting straight back on her diet and straight back to the gym. 'I really didn't feel good after eating foods that I would normally enjoy before this program as they didn't make my body feel good or help my results, the guilt, bloating and feelings of needing to smash myself in the gym after really outweighed the momentary satisfaction of eating the naughty food'.

Sophie is a shift worker, something Flic has done for many years and her most recent contest preparation was structured by Zac around her shifts, so both Flic and Zac were able to provide insight and advice regarding Sophie's schedule. 'It was amazing to see the difference a healthy diet and exercise regime made to the way I felt at work and also the way that I slept between shifts. Not snacking on junk food and instead eating proper, healthy meals, drinking plenty of water and using my spare time between shifts for exercise (which sounded impossible to the Week 1 version of myself) actually made me feel 10 times better and gave me so much more energy and motivation'.

The final week, '... certainly doesn't mean the end of my newfound love for this lifestyle. I will be continuing with the diet and exercise with Zac and Flic's guidance to ensure that I maintain my results and continue to improve my fitness and weight loss goals'. We have provided Sophie with a nutrition program at the completion of her 12 weeks which increases her flexibility through multiple nutritional options but helps to continue her results. As Sophie is so keen to continue improving, we have recommended that she continue on our maintenance program, which involves monthly check-ins with nutrition and fitness program updates and with the opportunity to learn how to count calories and track macros for long term body composition maintenance with greater flexibility but knowing that we are never too far away!

'Zac and Flic are a wealth of knowledge and have been so approachable, educational, supportive and professional throughout the entire process. This has been a whole lifestyle change for me, not just a 12 week program, which changed much more than just my body image and I am so motivated and encouraged now to continue to see what more I can achieve!'.

Well done Sophie! Thank you so much for your insight into your program!

Xx

What an amazing weekend we just had at the ICN Clash at the Coast in Batemans Bay supporting our client Matty Oliver as he took to the stage in his first bodybuilding contest!

Matty absolutely smashed it, taking home ...

1st Place Men's Bodybuilding First TImers

1st Place Men's Bodybuilding Juniors

1st Place Overall aka Overall Men's Bodybuilding Champion

Talk about hitting the ground running!

Matty looked fantastic and was in a really positive headspace. He followed Zac's guidelines 100% over the last few months and the results speak for themselves. Backstage on Saturday, he had so many people coming up to him, mostly complete strangers, just in absolute awe of his body conditioning. We were lucky enough to receive feedback from the Head Judge on the day, giving Matty and Zac areas to really focus on and improve for the next contest.

Matty enjoyed a well deserved refeed meal and a few days of rest and is now back in the gym and following his nutritional guidelines as he is now preparing for the ICN ACT Titles in Canberra in one weeks time! We can't wait to see him do it all again!

Congratulations again to Matty! Thank you for trusting Zac with your preparation and thank you to those of you who supported us on the day and all the support and congratulations we have received since, we are still on a high from it all! Matty has certainly given us and our team a huge motivation boost!

Following up our previous discussion about post contest outcomes, we indicated that we have experienced two very different outcomes and we focused on the goal setting aspects ... We now want to discuss nutrition and training further.

Outcome 1 - weight gain, hormonal imbalances, lack of energy, lack of motivation.

Outcome 2 - weight maintenance, hormonal balance, loads of energy, loads of motivation, steady lean muscle mass gain ... Current situation.

How have we achieved outcome 2 ... As previously discussed we set goals and we continue to do that regularly to keep motivation high. Second aspect was nutrition, we slowly, like super slowly increased our calories, even slower for Flic as we wanted to be kind to those often not so kind female hormones! We are talking about clean calories here too, yes we had our feast after our contest and relaxed a little the following day but after that it was straight back to the clean food sources, counting calories and weighing all foods to hit our marco goals. After a few weeks we introduced a 'refeed' meal once per week, which is not a free for all meal but rather a specific increase in calories for that day, again something we have trialled many different ways before working out what works best for our bodies. Everyone works slightly differently, so it often takes some trials here.

Third aspect was we were straight back into our training, steadily increasing our weights back to then beyond our pre-contest levels, it's now time to make some gains! We are also both still doing cardio, we didn't stop, we both actually enjoy it, call us crazy but we feel it helps to keep us fit and healthy and helps us to keep pushing our calories.

We are both now learning how to be intuitive with our bodies in regards to eating and training, it's a really exciting process. Key aspects to this are to have patience and go slow, really slow. We look forward to helping our upcoming contest clients through these phases, after their contests this year!

With contest season well underway and our clients well into their preparation phase, here at ReWard HQ we have been discussing the importance of what we do with our clients after their contests. You may have already heard stories about the 'dark side' after a contest. In the world of competitive bodybuilding, there is almost a notion that the contest doesn't end at the stage, it also includes who can make it out the other side without a 'host of issues'. When we first started competing, we felt like everyone was talking about 'blowing out' post contest, we didn't really understand what that was until we both experienced it.

What we like to do to learn and understand more is trial everything on ourselves which helps us improve what we do with our clients. We have both experienced weight gain, hormonal fluctuations, lack of energy and lack of motivation post a contest season and we have also both experienced weight maintenance, hormonal balance, loads of energy, loads of motivation and steady lean muscle mass gain post a contest season, the latter being where we are both at now. We feel we are at this point now because we gained so much knowledge about our bodies during the first outcome and we had a much greater understanding of what we needed to do to create the opposite outcome.

Now we understand some people don't mind having larger fluctuations between their 'on season' and 'off season' and that's okay but personally we are most happy when we have minimal fluctuations and right now we are happy! So what did we do differently .. well, everything! A major aspect was setting goals and staying focused, for us, getting married was a massive motivator, especially when we had our dress and suit fittings prior to our contests! Another huge motivator has been this business, we want to look and feel our best every day and portray that to our clients. Contest preparation can be very consuming and the focus can become just on that one day but life keeps going, so our advice is don't forget about what happens after!

The period when you are not competing should be an exciting one of pushing calories, lifting heavy and setting goals, whether it be in your personal or professional lives and always making improvements to your physique ready for the next time you step on stage!

Next time we will discuss what we did differently with our nutrition and training post contest to get where we are currently with our bodies ...

We have some exciting news to share with you all!

After 6 years of service with the Royal Australian Navy, Zac has decided to put in his discharge to focus on being head coach, full time at ReWard HQ!

As you all know this business started from his passion for training, eating clean and competing in bodybuilding, then evolved from his mates asking for his assistance to achieve their health and fitness goals, then suddenly we were off at a rate neither of us expected.

Over the past 12 months we have been implementing what we like to call 'calculated risk', where we have both continued with our current employment while building up ReWard, mostly at night and on weekends. Moving to Sydney this year for Zac's posting to HMAS Choules has turned out to be the best move for our business, things have progressed rapidly here and made us have to reconsider our plan of Zac continuing in the Navy for at least the next 12 months, we have decided that our time is right now!

A little insight into what is happening now ... Zac is currently on deployment, he is working 15+ hour days with minimal sleep but he hasn't stopped training and eating clean (yes he keeps protein powder, etc in his cabin!) and above all he won't let this situation impact his clients, so he runs around the ship, between various tasks with his laptop to find spots of reception to respond to your emails!

I have reduced my work days as a Nurse this year so I can put in lots more time to ReWard, to support Zac and to be available for posing coaching (for female competitors). We are very excited about finally deciding on a logo and look forward to seeing it on our new merchandise and advertising. We are updating our website, updating our programs and adding new packages for our services right now, so look out for these changes.

Zac will be available full time from August, so yes that means that current (local) clients can finally be trained by their coach! Future clients will have the option of personal training, exclusively or as part of your nutrition and fitness program with us and we will also be offering group fitness training! Zac will be available for posing coaching (for male competitors), which will be an option as part of your contest preparation package.

So the 6 month countdown begins, can't wait!

Here is coach Wardy showing us he is certainly not losing his gains while on the ship!

Wow what a year 2016 was, super busy, super exciting ... We started our own business, both competed in bodybuilding, got married and moved to Sydney! We haven't slowed down yet either, launching straight into 2017, maybe later this year we will get on that honeymoon we haven't had yet!

We both enjoyed some time with friends and family over Christmas and New Years, between the massive stress of moving .. basically everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong! We are almost settled into our new place, have set up our home office and ready to expand our services during this year. We are really enjoying Sydney, the warm weather and fast pace is super motivating, we have already met a bunch of amazing people in the industry.

We wish to congratulate all our amazing clients from 2016, thank those continuing with us and welcome our new clients starting with us now! We are opening up our services to include face to face or phone consultations to local clients and phone or Skype consultations for interstate clients. Soon we will be offering posing classes to those competing in female bodybuilding (bikini and angels divisions), please contact us if you are interested and look out for our advertising soon.

So if you, a friend or family member have been wanting to lose weight, tone up, improve nutrition or compete in a bodybuilding contest contact us today to help you on that journey! Our consultations are free of charge and obligation free, so let's chat and see how we can help!

Bring on 2017!

We are now officially Mr & Mrs Ward ... or shall we say Mr & Mrs ReWard! We were married on Saturday 12 November in Launceston, Tasmania, on a very rustic, picturesque, private property, which we turned into both a wedding ceremony and reception venue! Felicity grew up in Tasmania and Zachary absolutely loves it there so it seemed like the right place for us to be married. We were surrounded by our family and friends, many travelling from interstate and overseas to be with us! We were both so overwhelmed by the experience and overcome by emotion most of the day, it still all feels like a dream. It absolutely poured with rain and strong winds developed just as we arrived for the ceremony, in typical Tasmania fashion but we have been told rain on a wedding day is good luck!

During our time in Tasmania, many of our family and friends commented on our discipline with nutrition and training while on holiday so we thought we would provide some insight into how we did things while away. Preparation for our wedding trip began straight after our last bodybuilding comp (end of October), with structured reverse dieting, which we would have done regardless but were extra motivated to look our best for our wedding day (we will discuss our reverse dieting phase in more depth in our next blog). We spent a total of 2 weeks in Tasmania, a week prior and a week post our wedding day. We were super busy each day leading up to the wedding as we did the majority of things ourselves, no wedding planners here! We made sure training was planned into each day, getting up early and getting it done first thing and our rest day was scheduled around our wedding day. We made sure we bought and prepped all our meals so our nutrition remained on point, with a plan of relaxing and enjoying the food at our wedding reception, we were really looking forward to some of the cake!

Our wedding day was so busy we both only had 1 meal prior (breakfast of course), then we were so caught up in talking to our guests, taking photos and just taking it all in that we only ate when the caterers handed us some food, bless them for that! Neither of us ended up eating 'all the food' as planned lol! We did enjoy a little more wedding cake that evening in the hotel room and maybe a little more the next day he he but after that it was straight back to our regular nutritional intake and back into training,

Post wedding we had few days of relaxation/mini honeymoon in Cradle Mountain and Hobart, setting off with our protein powder and a cooler bag of chicken breast and rice we were ready to enjoy the experience with minimal detriment to our bodies. Without a gym in Cradle Mountain we combined sight seeing and cardio with a 2 hour walk around the national park; in Hobart we trained in gyms and walked a lot during the day. We did enjoy a dinner and movie date, choosing a seafood restaurant which offered grilled fish, veggies and steamed rice, perfect!

So we are back in Canberra now, back to our regular training and nutrition routine but things haven't slowed down at all as we are now preparing for our move to Sydney! Each time we travel we feel we do things a little better, each time we learn something new, each time we improve on balancing nutrition/training with relaxation/family time/sight seeing, each time we return with better outcomes. At the start of this year we both agreed that in order for us to continue competing in bodybuilding and to lead this lifestyle long term, we had to improve on how we balance that with life and we have certainly lived a little more this year! We look forward to our official honeymoon next year!

Felicity won first place in the Bikini Open division at the INBA Brisbane Super Show! Many of you may already know this from our excitement leading to the social media 'comp spam' last weekend. Felicity's goal of winning the open bikini title took 2 years to achieve, which is four comp seasons and she did it at the very last contest of her season this year.

Coach Zachary prepared Felicity for this show, starting with her offseason at the end of 2015, where they focused on building muscle and pushing her nutritional intake as high as possible without gaining excessive amounts of body fat. Zachary then assisted her through a 16 week contest preparation phase to step on stage at the INBA ACT Titles followed by the INBA Brisbane Super Show. As we have mentioned on our Facebook page, Felicity's diet and training schedule was designed around her shift work, a balance between getting her body 'stage ready' but not burning her out in the process.

Fast forward to comp day last weekend and Felicity's body was looking the best it ever has, even better than a few weeks ago at the Canberra show. She was not nervous at all, just excited to hit the stage! When her number and name was called out for first place she was so shocked and excited she was shaking up on that podium! She received her first place trophy, followed by the best part of all, a 'Champion Trainer' award for Zachary!

As Felicity placed 1st she had the opportunity to compete in the Bikini Professional Qualifier straight after, although she did not place in this (only 3 Pro Cards were awarded), it was fantastic to have her standing on stage with a line up of girls who have all won open divisions previously. Felicity was super motivated by this experience and has her sights set on competing in another Pro Qualifier next year!

Some of you have asked what happens now as the next contest season is a while away ... Well Zachary is coaching Felicity through a reverse diet phase to ensure her body recovers appropriately post contest. Felicity was back in the gym two days post comp, with goals to continue building lean muscle mass and to look fantastic for her debut as a bride in just two weeks time!

Zachary and Felicity send a massive thank you to their friends and family for all the support over the weekend, to those who attended the contest and those who have contacted them with such kind words! Bring on the future for ReWard Fitness & Nutrition!

As many of you know, Zachary is a current serving member in the Royal Australian Navy, which means he doesn't exactly have a 'regular' work day. A question he is often asked is 'how do you manage bodybuilding with the demands of your job?'

So how does he do it? Well lets go way back to the patrol boat days in Darwin, when he was coming and going like a yo-yo, with absolutely no structure to his work days or work hours. At that point in time he was not yet competing in bodybuilding but was certainly training for it, doing all that underlying work that comprises his stage package today. He had to make it work, so he set up a training area on the deck of the ship, probably the smallest, ill-equipped gym imaginable, which was also rocking side to side but it meant he could continue training the best he could while deployed on operation. Zac actually even trained through the tail end of a cyclone one day, despite parts of the ship being torn off by the cyclone earlier that day .. Yes he is crazy!

Fast forward a few years and he was relocated to Canberra, this posting meant he was not being regularly deployed on operation as before but did involve regular interstate and overseas travel and this time he managed to go one step further, preparing for and competing in multiple bodybuilding contests. He usually doesn't get much notice prior to travelling for work and has to quickly pack and adjust to a new schedule, new environment and often very basic to no kitchen or training facilities, which as many of you know is vital to the comp prep process.

One of the funniest (not so funny at the time) moments would have to have been while he was away for work in Townsville earlier this year, he had absolutely no kitchen facilities and so his daily meal prep occurred on the floor, in a doorway with a pocketknife and his trusty travel scales! See photo evidence below ...

Currently we are preparing for the next relocation to Sydney, which means he will be on a ship and deployed on operation again ... Wonder what he can conquer this time!

Welcome !

We are so excited to say we have launched! Website, Facebook and Instagram is all up and running!

Since we decided to develop our own business it has been one massive learning curve, especially as things took off quicker than expected! We are both so passionate about this and excited to develop our new career path.

Since we met we have always talked about one day having our own business in the health and fitness industry, our kickstart was when we began competing in INBA bodybuilding contests, through the preparation process we decided we wanted to be involved on a business level.

Before we knew it Zachary had completed his qualifications (while being in the Navy full time) and had gained a bunch of clients simply by word of mouth. The clients we have had over the course of this year have been fantastic, in both their results and patience as we grow as a business. Yes there have been little bumps along the way but it has shown us what we need to move forward, which is why over the next few months we are focusing on updating our management and software systems to improve our service to each client and improve our range of services.

As some of you will have noticed we have changed our name from 'ReWard Nutrition' to 'ReWard Fitness & Nutrition', a decision we made in view of further growth as this new name encompasses more of what we will have to offer in 2017!

We wish to say a huge thank you to our clients throughout this year for their support, understanding and recommendations to their friends and family, which has led to such rapid growth!

A big thank you also goes to our families who have encouraged us to take on this venture and to Sonya (Flic's Mum) for coming up with the original name 'ReWard Nutrition', a surprise to us all, when we thought she was not even listening the day we were discussing business names with her and Shaun (Flic's Dad).

We are excited for the future of ReWard Fitness & Nutrition!

Flic and Zac