We are constantly facing challenges in our busy lives, from the very small right up to life-changing ones.

Most of them occur naturally but sometimes we create our own challenges to see how we measure up.

Sam Cooper and Josee Roshuk, trainers at One to 1 Fitness in Red Deer decided to step up to meet the challenge of preparing for a body building competition in Red Deer this past weekend.

Cooper says for her the event had nothing to do with vanity and everything to do with setting a goal and meeting it.

“I knew it would take a lot of concentration and focus and there would be a lot of days that were mentally taxing, emotionally taxing,” she said. “ I was really curious how I would step up to the plate and handle it.”

For Josee this competition provided her with a chance to motivate her clients and push them to stick to their own goals when it comes to fitness.

She said they see her training for 16 weeks in order to get in shape for the competition so maybe it can provide them with some inspiration.

For her, one challenge within the training was the change in her diet.

“It’s very strict, basically eating eggs and chicken and spinach,” she said. “So just to have that self discipline to not eat cheese was very difficult for me.”

Cooper said the whole process over the past 16 weeks or so has been a real learning experience and it might cause some who know her to tackle their own challenges.

“If Sam can do something like that then I’ll be able to do something like this. They’ll be able to choose something for themselves to reach for,” she said. “Especially my family, just seeing that and seeing me push through, really committing to something.”

Roshuk says other parts of her life were falling by the wayside as she put essentially all of her time into getting ready for the competition.

“A lot of my time was taken up in the gym doing 80 minutes of cardio a day, doing weights five times a week,” she said. “So just having to sacrifice spending time with my friends and my family.”

Both agreed what was being given up on their part is worth it in the end however.

“It’s been good. If it was easy then everybody would do it,” said Cooper.

But Roshuk had a plan to follow up on once the weekend passed and she was able to change back to a more diverse diet.

“I’m going to go for probably two blizzards,” she said.

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