FBBFan.com: Hello Anita, Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share a bit about yourself with FBBFan.com members and readers! Would you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
Anita: Where to start? I was born and raised in New Mexico and after college moved around allot. It has been a great experience living in so many different places. I love to lift weights and am an extremely competitive person who always has her plate incredibly full of tasks, but that is the way I like it. I enjoy talking with people and helping them, though I really enjoy my alone time. Currently, I am playing two sides of a coin, meaning I am doing both bodybuilding competitions and sanctioned bench meets – very different training, but they do balance each other well. A little more about me: My face and my name are still in many bodybuilding magazines. I have been featured in all the popular bodybuilding magazines like MuscleMag International, Ironman, Muscular Development, FLEX, NPC News, Body's magazine (Italian publication), B&K Sport (Swedish Publication), Le Monde Du Muscle (French), Women's Physique World (WPW), Oxygen, Powerhouse magazine, Body Talk, Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness magazine, Great Lakes Fitness Guide, Steel Jungle and many more. This is what WPW had to say about me: “Anita was a top level competitor, and one of the very strongest women, during the 1990's, and she was at her peak in 1995 when we had our photo/video session with her. Though this was intended to be an 'off-season' shooting, she was very lean and defined even at her higher weight, making it hard to believe she was not preparing for a contest! A great looking blonde with huge arms and lower body, and another woman bodybuilder 'who loved the camera'."
I have been a competitive bodybuilder for over a decade, and, over the years, never have I not been part of the Bodybuilding community in someway or another. I am a published author. My work has appeared in Oxygen, Ironman magazine, MuscleMag International, NPC News, and Body Talk (supplement industry magazine). I am also a Certified Sports Conditioning Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Bodybuilding Instructor, SPARQ Nike Certified Trainer, and NESTA Certified Online PT. I am also the United Powerlifting Association (UPA) New Mexico & Colorado Regional Chair, co-owner High Peaks Barbell Club and promoter of UPA power events.
FBBFan.com: How old are you?
Anita: I am 42 – wow time sure does fly.
FBBFan.com: Where are you from?
Anita: I am from New Mexico and my current residence is right back here in New Mexico again. I live in northern New Mexico way up in the mountains. I am surrounded by mountains but am in a valley where we sit at 8300 feet in elevation, hence our High Altitude Training Facility. The summers are beautiful here, but the winters – well they are brutal to say the least. I spend allot of time on a tractor moving snow and in a truck plowing snow.
FBBFan.com: What do you currently do for a living?
Anita: I am co-owner of a High Altitude Training facility called High Peaks Barbell Club www.highpeaksbarbellclub.com.
FBBFan.com: How did you get involved in the sport of Women’s Bodybuilding?
Anita: Actually, I started lifting because I was bored and looking for something to entertain myself with. Bodybuilding was not my intentions. I liked lifting weights when I use to ski race on the collegiate level and for lack of anything else going on at the time I joined a gym and started back to lifting weights. A long story short, after about 3 months of lifting I had people in the gym I trained at asking me if I was a bodybuilder. Here is the best part – I had no idea what a bodybuilder was, never heard of it. Well about 5 months after that I got talked into doing my first show, which I had never even been to one and guess what, I won my weight class and did everything wrong you could possibly do wrong to prep for a show and that is how it all got started.
FBBFan.com: How does your friends, family and the general public react to your physique?
Anita: Good question. I have been around for quite some time and have really seen some great changes in how people react to female bodybuilders. When I first got into this, my family did not understand but my friends thought it was cool. However, the general public reaction was quite different. Most of the time the reaction was in a negative manner with only a few positive comments. Now it is very different. Family, friends and general public all tend to react in a very positive manner and seldom have I encountered negativity. I guess the public is finally starting to realize that muscle on a woman does not make her a man.
FBBFan.com: What do you enjoy about being a bodybuilder?
Anita: Being different from everyone else. I like the way my physique looks and I love lifting weights. I also enjoy that bodybuilding has afforded me the opportunity to meet many great people over the years.
FBBFan.com: What has been your greatest personal moment in the sport of bodybuilding?
Anita: I would say there have been two. One was when I won the overall at the NPC Western Cup and the other was winning the overall at the Southern States and going on to place 3rd at the IFBB North America. These were great times. I do want to add again some of the greatest personal moments in this sport for me have been the opportunity to meet some incredible people and becoming great friends with them over the years.
FBBFan.com: Would you please share your competition history with us?
Anita: My Contest History:
1988:
1. Boulder Bodybuilding Championships - 1st Middleweight
2. Rocky Mountain Bodybuilding Championships - 1st Heavyweight
1989:
NPC Colorado State - 2nd Heavyweights
1990:
Western Cup Bodybuilding Championships - 1st Heavyweights & Overall
1991:
Jr. Nationals - 6th place Heavyweights
1992:
Jr. USA - 8th place Heavyweights
1993:
USA Bodybuilding Championships - 15th place
1994:
1. Orange County Bodybuilding Championships - 3rd place Middleweight
2. Steele Rose Bodybuilding Championships - 2nd place Heavyweights
1995:
1. NPC California State - 5th place Heavyweights
2. Women's Pro Strength Extravaganza - Tied for 5th
1996:
1. New York Metropolitan - 3rd Heavyweights
2. NPC New Jersey State - 1st place Heavyweights
1998:
1. Southern States Bodybuilding Championships - 1st Heavyweights & Overall
2. IFBB North America Bodybuilding Championships - 3rd place Heavyweights
• I was awarded Lonnie Teper's "Come Back of the Year" Award in 1998.
2008:
NPC Masters Nationals Bodybuilding Championships - 4th place light-heavyweights
Bench History:
2003:
1. IPA Halloween Bench Bash - 1st place 148 sub-masters – 215#
2. IPA RexRoads Memorial - 1st place 148 sub-masters – 220#
++++Shoulder Surgery++++
2006:
APF World Bench Wars - 1st place 165 sub-masters – 260#
2007:
APF Metal Militia Memorial - 1st place 165 open – 300#
2008:
1. UPA Metal Militia Ironman 1st place 148 open – 305#
2. UPA Metal Militia Memorial 1st place 165 open – 330#
FBBFan.com: What is the next show you will be competing at?
Anita: 2009 NPC Masters Nationals in Pittsburgh, PA July 18.
FBBFan.com: Have you taken any different approach regarding your training and diet preparing for the 2009 NPC Masters Nationals compared to previous competitions?
Anita: Training no. Diet prep yes. All the years I competed prior to my retirement I did all my training and diets. I have someone helping me with my diet. It is great because I have so much going on currently it is one less thing I need to think about. I let someone else do the thinking. Which leads me to your next question.
FBBFan.com: Is anyone helping you prepare for the Masters Nationals this year?
Anita: As I stated above, I do have someone helping me with my diet and that someone is Dave Palumbo. I went to Dave, because I have the utmost respect for him and feel he can get the job done. The other reason I am with Dave is he really does not do anything different than the way I have dieted myself down over the years, so it is an easy transition; I know how my body will respond. Like I said, now I do not have to do the figuring or thinking he does and that is just fine with me.
FBBFan.com: What’s your favorite thing and/or routine you enjoy when training and preparing for a competition?
Anita: Actually, there is not much when it comes to training that I do not enjoy. But, I would say my favorite is chest and shoulder training.
FBBFan.com: How far out from a show do you start your diet and prep?
Anita: I will start prepping at about 20 weeks out. I use the first two weeks to start getting myself adjusted to the schedule I will need to be on and I also use it to start monitoring my food intake and start cleaning it up. I use the next two weeks to totally clean up my diet and then it is 100% hard core after that.
FBBFan.com: Would you please tell us a little about your workout schedule? Contest and during the Off-Season? Does it vary much?
Anita: Yes, my training varies allot between contest and off-season. My contest training changes up with types of exercises I do and rep ranges. Where my off-season training is geared towards my bench training and improving what ever I feel needs to be improved upon. In the off-season I train very heavy, no supersets, just straight sets. During my contest training I train heavy but no like the off-season. My rep ranges during contest training will range anywhere from 6 to whatever. My rep ranges during off-season will range from 1 to 3 on some things and 6 or more on others. The amount of days I train is about the only thing that does not change.
FBBFan.com: Do you have a favorite lift or exercise?
Anita: Bench of course. But, I also like doing incline DB presses as well.
FBBFan.com: What is your current height, weight during off-season and contest?
Anita: My current weight is 139 and I am 6 weeks out from competition. My off-season weight is about 155 and my contest weight, well I am not sure, but last year it was 140. This year I am leaner and bigger, but have no idea where I will weigh in.
FBBFan.com: What do you consider your best feature?
Anita: My best physical feature I would probably say is my biceps and pose would be my back double bi. My best feature is that I am friendly and easy to get along with usually.
FBBFan.com: What is a day-in-the-life of Anita Ramsey like?
Anita: Well the day-in-life I will talk about is the current day-in-life. Stressful! I get up at 3 or 3:30am, do my cardio, do computer and paper work, and get ready to go to the gym. Then I train people from 7am to noon, have a one hour break to run home and get more food put together for the rest of my day. Get back to the gym at 1pm and train myself till 3pm, then I train people again till 5pm. After that I go home, do my posing and more cardio, prepare my last two meals, do more computer and paper work and go to bed hopefully before 11pm. That is a typical weekday. The weekends are a bit better, because I do not have to train anyone. This is when I get lots of my other work done. And hopefully once in awhile get to take a break and relax, though that does not happen often.
FBBFan.com: What are your hobbies and interests outside of the bodybuilding community?
Anita: I love to relax by a fire and watch a good movie. I also enjoy hiking, boating, skiing and snowshoeing.
FBBFan.com: What’s currently on your iPod?
Anita: I Love All kinds of Heavy Metal music when I am lifting. When I am not lifting I still enjoy Heavy Metal, but also depending on the situation and what I am doing, I enjoy Club and Classical.
To name a few of the Heavy Metal groups we listen to in our gym there is: Five Finger Death Punch, Death Angel, Fear Factory, Rob Zombie, Killswitch Engage, Mastadon, Mudvayne, Soilwork, 3 Inches of Blood, and oh yeah Arch Enemy! Just to name a few.
FBBFan.com: What are your “Top 5” favorite movies? Favorite actor and/or actress?
Anita: Transformers - awesome, Over the Hedge, IronMan, the Hulk and the Underworld movies. Regarding favorite actor or actress, I can’t really say that I have one.
FBBFan.com: Who are your role models? And/or who do you look up to in your life?
Anita: Anyone who is honest and loyal and goes out in the world, busts their butt and succeeds without making excuses for things – I hate people who make excuses in life.
FBBFan.com: What advice do you have for women who would like to get involved in and compete in the sport of bodybuilding?
Anita: Know your industry, past and Future. Understand what you are getting into. This is a very judgmental sport. When you compete, you should compete for yourself and the audience. The judges; well who knows what they may want on that day. I always tell people it is something like this: say you have a perfect apple, peach, pear, plum and watermelon – well they are all perfect, which one do you want that day??? The next piece of advise I would give is you must have a honest support crew, not people who will tell you what you want to hear, but those who will tell you the cold hard truth – no "yes" people in your corner. And finally, if you do not get placed where you feel you should have gotten placed don’t bitch about it. To me that makes you look like an idiot and is an insult to the rest of the girls. Grow up and take what you get, have good sportsmanship.
FBBFan.com: Who are your favorite bodybuilding athletes?
Anita: Well I would say Don Ross – an incredible man and very good bodybuilder in his day, Dave Palumbo – another great guy who though he never turned pro, I consider definitly on that level and Ronnie Coleman – a Freaky huge bodybuilder.
FBBFan.com: How can people contact you? Do you have a website?
Anita: I can be contacted at behind_the_iron@yahoo.com and my personal website is www.anitaramsey.com. My gym website is www.highpeaksbarbellclub.com.
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