Name: Diana Rose Chaloux – LaCerte
Email: Diana.chaloux@yahoo.com
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Age: 33
Contest Weight: 127
Off Season Weight: 133
Website - Personal: www.dianachaloux.com
Hitch Fit Online Personal Training: www.hitchfit.com
Could you tell us a bit about yourself and how you started training?
My name is Diana Chaloux – LaCerte, I’m originally from the small yet beautiful state of Vermont, but I call Kansas City home now. The most important things in my life are my faith, my family and fitness in that order! I’m a small town girl with big dreams and aspirations, and a deep seeded belief that God has a definite purpose for my life. I love life and I love that I get to live every day of it with the man of my dreams Micah LaCerte, work in the industry that I love!
I’m an ACE, AFAA & Fitness Professionals International certified personal trainer as well as a certified nutrition and wellness consultant, Lifestyle Management Nutrition Manager, Wellcoach Fitness Coach and WBFF Pro Diva Fitness Model.
My hubby and I co own Hitch Fit, an online and one on one personal training company which focuses on not just physical transformation, but life transformation. The goal is to aid our clients in achieving their fitness goals through proper nutrition and training, focusing on positives and eliminating negatives from their lives in order to achieve optimal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. It’s awesome working side by side with Micah as together we try to make this world a more fit and healthy place!
I’ve been a fitness enthusiast my entire life, but it wasn’t until 2005 that I really decided to stop procrastinating with my dream of being a professional fitness athlete, buckled down, threw all my personal excuses out the window and committed to competing in my first Figure competition. At that point in time, despite being a personal trainer myself, I weighed in at over 170 pounds, the heaviest I had ever been in my life! I was tired of being unhappy with the way I looked and felt and decided it was high time to change my life for the better…and for good. I shed 40 pounds for that first show and have never turned back to my old ways.
I was blessed to win that first show, and knew that I had finally found my path in life! I had several more victories over the course of the next few years, including two World Championship titles in both Fitness Model and Figure categories, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to be featured in my favorite fitness publications including Oxygen, Muscle & Fitness Hers, WBFF Fit & Firm, Natural Muscle, Status Fitness, Inside Fitness, World Physique and more! I found that once I believed in myself, set goals, and then took action towards them, there was nothing I couldn’t accomplish. I now compete more because I love the stage, the camaraderie and the challenge than anything else! I’m a very proud WBFF Pro Diva Fitness Model. The WBFF has been home to me since 2008, and has provided me with such amazing opportunity within the fitness industry, I’m entirely grateful to Paul and Allison Dillett who founded this incredible organization. My husband Micah and I are also now WBFF show hosts and put on the very first WBFF Central US Championships here in Kansas City in May 2011!
I first started strength training at the young age of 14. I had no idea what I was doing at that point in time, but I knew I loved the confidence that I felt and my time in the gym resulted in improvements with my athletic and sports performance. I’ve been a gym rat ever since! After graduating from college with a BA in Business, I still didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do with my life. It wasn’t until 2001 when I had an epiphany while working out that FITNESS is what I loved! From that day forward I started studying and researching to find out what I had to do to make a living while wearing gym clothes. I acquired my first certifications in 2002 and dove in to training head first. What I love about working in this profession is that there is never an end to the education process. There is always something new, always something exciting to discover.
How do you stay motivated?
There are a couple of things that keep me motivated. First is that I absolutely believe that working in the fitness industry is what God placed me on earth to do. It’s my calling, so I feel it’s my duty to fulfill it to the best of my ability, and the way to do that is by taking care of my own physique.
I definitely have a built in drive that constantly pushes me to try new things, to be better and to accomplish more, I’ve always had that. I think that we are here on earth for such a short time so it’s important to do the best with the time that we have, to never quit, and to always strive for new goals.
I’m also very motivated by knowing that people look to me for motivation and inspiration for themselves. I don’t want to let them down. It means the world to me when people tell me that they look up to me or made a positive change or choice because of me. That is such a great feeling and it makes every minute of effort that it takes to be in this position, absolutely 100% worth it.
What is your current workout routine?
When preparing to compete (which for me is once yearly at the WBFF World Championships), I strength train 6 days per week and work 1-2 body parts per day. I don’t have a set routine, I believe in constant change in the gym. I choose 3-6 exercises per body part, and will perform anywhere from 3-6 sets of each. I incorporate drop sets, giant sets, pause reps etc into my workout routines to keep things interesting and fresh at all times.
On my off season I strength train 4-5 days per week and will do 2-3 muscle groups per workout. Things are a bit less intense and I give myself longer recovery periods.
Cardio for me on season is a progression, starting with anywhere from 20-30 minutes daily and working my way up to 90+ minutes per day depending on where my body is. I do both steady state training and high intensity intervals.
Off season, my cardio is about 3-4 days weekly for about 20 minutes.
I like variety in cardio, so I incorporate stair climbing, outdoor running, elliptical, biking etc so that my body doesn’t plateau or get too used to one style.
What is your diet like?
I eat clean 80% of the time. The staples of my diet year round are lean proteins including chicken, tuna, whey protein isolate, egg whites and white fish, healthy carbohydrates such as oatmeal or Ezekial bread, and healthy fats from fish oil, almond butter, avocados and olive oil. I eat loads…literally loads..of vegetables and plenty of fresh water. On season, my diet is very strict and I don’t stray from it in order to look my best on stage. Off season, my foods are all the same, but I incorporate dairy, fruit and some fun cheat meals weekly!
What gives you the best results when trying to get lean?
I’ve found that my body responds best to staying on a balanced diet and progressively increasing the duration and intensity of my training. I don’t ever eliminate carbs completely. I keep them in usually at least around 25-30% of my daily macro nutrients. I will alter this if needed and my body isn’t responding the way I would like it to. I’ve dieted many different ways over the years and found that I like my conditioning best and how I feel best throughout the process when I keep calories higher and kick up the intensity of training. This also allows me to transition back into maintenance easily without a high weight gain. I gain about 5-7 pounds in my off season, but because I eat balanced throughout my dieting phase I find I don’t go crazy with cravings post competition.
What supplements do you use?
I stick with the basics. Daily multi vitamin, whey protein isolate, BCAA’s, Glutamine.
What 3 exercises have contributed the most to building your physique?
When I was younger there were two exercises that I did religiously that I absolutely attribute certain physique development to, funny thing is I didn’t know at the time what I was working! I loved doing the leg press, which is one of the greatest exercises for quad development, so I attribute my quads to that, I also did the weighted ab crunch machine on a regular basis and always challenged myself to see how much weight I could do. I have very thick upper abdominals and that’s one major thing I attribute it to! Third would be the dead lift which has been one of my favorite movement for the last 2-3 years in aiding in glute and hamstring development.
What is the most common training question that people ask you?
“How do I get my abs to look like that?” :) The answer is always the same. 80% nutrition, sufficient cardio…doing ab work can strengthen the ab muscles and doing weighted ab movements can increase the size and density of those muscles just as with any other muscle group…however, they will never see their abs if they don’t shed the fat that is covering them and that is achieved not through any abdominal workout or magic pill, but through CONSISTENT proper nutrition and sufficient cardio. The more fat that is covering those abs the longer time period it will take to uncover them, and the only way to KEEP them uncovered is to develop the healthy eating and exercise habits that can be maintained for a lifetime.
What is your greatest achievement so far?
Winning shows and magazine features are awesome, and a dream come true….but I think being a part of Hitch Fit is my greatest achievement so far. I say that because Micah have done our best to build something that is so positive, powerful and inspiring for people, and when we get messages from people whom we have never met, who follow us or go to our site regularly to be inspired, it makes me happy to know that I’m part of something that is reaching out to so many people and helping them improve their lives.
What is your favorite quote?
“Go Confidently in the Direction of your Dreams…Live the Life You’ve Imagined..” – Thoreau
What are your plans for the future?
As far as my personal life goes, I plan to wake up every morning and tell my husband that I love him. I plan to live life to the fullest, enjoy every ounce of time that I get to spend with my family, and continue to do my best to build and grow my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has so richly blessed my life!!
Micah and I have SO many plans for the future for Hitch Fit. We will compete with the WBFF again in 2011 and then going forward we will host more..bigger and better…events here in Kansas City. We will continue to grow and develop Hitch Fit online personal training and our one on one training services here in Kansas City. We currently have 14 trainers that work as part of our team in Kansas City, and we continue to expand at a rapid pace! We are looking at franchising Hitch Fit in other areas of the country, we have several more books in the works, we are spreading more and more worldwide (we currently work with clients in 40+ countries), we’ve got clothing lines, product lines and so much more that will be part of Hitch Fit in the future! I would love for your readers to stop by www.hitchfit.com and keep track of us as we continue to grow!
How can you be contacted?
Websites: www.DianaChaloux.com - www.HitchFit.com
Email: Diana.chaloux@yahoo.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DianaChaloux
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Diana-Chaloux-Fitness-Modeling-Weight-Loss-Online-Personal-Training-Page/270383900799
Youtube: www.youtube.com/shoobydoo52 Training, competition, photo shoot videos and more!
Diana Chaloux Gallery
Additional Info:
Thanks so much for the interview opportunity!
Hitch Fit offers online personal training programs worldwide! We work with men and women, all ages, all fitness levels. We have 12 and 16 week programs including: Lose Weight – Feel Great, Look Like a Fitness Model, Look Like a Bikini Model, Figure Competition Prep, Muscle Building, Couples Programs, and Post Pregnancy Programs. We also offer one on one personal training in the Kansas City area. Please feel free to stop by the websites or write to me with questions on anything!
Video Links:
Hitch Fit Transformations:
http://youtu.be/-7po0s7W7_A
Training:
http://youtu.be/_RbDfB2az5I
http://youtu.be/f8BGjcz6npg
http://youtu.be/rBz9KqLf3tM
Photoshoots:
http://youtu.be/ZnVBZU91cy0
http://youtu.be/SC0UJSKygc4
http://youtu.be/lHZcD4BYP9I
Competitions:
http://youtu.be/u18eisbHRNQ
http://youtu.be/TYWu8KblAr0
http://youtu.be/pjzOqiKLcqo
