👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
My name is Hulda and I am 35 years old (or will be in June this year). I am Icelandic and live in the northern part of Iceland in a town called Akureyri. I am a mother and a wife. I have two daughters, one who will be 12 years this summer and the other one is six years old.
I started my sports career very late in life, nine years ago, it´s my passion, job and hobby to do powerlifting. First when I started training it was just for the sake of getting in shape but very quickly I competed and felt I finally I found something I could actually be good at.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I have a perfect schedule that I have followed for the last five years or since I started training again after having my younger daughter.
I wake up at 5:15 a.m. and get dressed and got training. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are for powerlifting (squats, deadlift and benchpress). Tuesdays and Thursdays are for GPP (General physical preparedness).
I get home at around 8 a.m. and I get breakfast, take my daughter to kindergarden and do chores around the house and get ready for work.
At 13:30, I get back to the club and start training again and finish at 16:00. Then its back to being a mother.
I train two times a day on weekdays and once during the weekend. I train at a powerlifting club. It’s a sports club dedicated to only powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting for only those in the sports movement. I mostly train alone but in my sport, I have to have my coach around and spotters for my heaviest lifts.
My coach makes my program and I have a diary I write in before training. I most often write training for the whole week ahead on Sundays and prepare myself for all the sessions mentally. I do my own GPP training and add all accessory work.
My favorite exercises are the ones I compete in I would say. But mostly squat and benchpress. I also love walking, it’s so nice for the mental health also.
I do cardio but not to aim at loosing weight or something like that like so many do. My cardio would be sprints, rowing and walking. Only to keep my heart in good shape and my breathing under control. Also, the walking is the best recovery in my opinion.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
I set myself a goal after my first year of competing. I really want to be a world champion one day. I both want to prove to myself that I am capable and I am not a quitter and also I have the higher purpose of proving vegans are strong.
If I ever get down or don’t really feel motivated, I remind myself of my why. I’ve spent such a long time doing this. Firstly because I like it, secondly it has made me a better person and thirdly because I have a purpose and to do my best in my sport is my purpose.
I want my daughters to see that their mom is strong, independent and capable and they can be what ever they want to be in the future. To be an athlete for me is like to be a pilot for the colorblind.
Please discover things on your own and be able to do most things by yourself.
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
My training is going so well now. We are starting to prepare for the first competition this year. Everything looks good and solid and my body is in a great shape (or at least there are no aches or pains).
I have been working on my diet with a nutritionist and we’ve been focusing on eating to perform and I think it makes a lot of difference.
This year and if everything goes as planned, I will be competing in four international competitions. I am aiming for a great year and I should be able to reach or even go further than this year’s goal if I keep on working as hard.
If I could start over with my fitness journey, I would have dumped my first coach sooner. And I do recommend people to not get stuck with one’s person’s help.
Please discover things on your own and be able to do most things by yourself. Be critical. Other than that, I think all the things I’ve done in my journey, I can be proud of.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
Recovery is very important to me but I am very lucky that I can recover quickly. I think it might be because I am a female and we tend to recover quicker than males, also because I am fairly little (163cm) and because I am vegan.
I have a good routine. Weekly massage, hot and cold baths and streching and foamroalling at least five times a week.
I go to bed before 9 p.m. and I feel that if I miss out on sleep, I won’t be performing as well. So sleep is very important to me and my nightly routine. My bedroom is dark and around 18°c to be sure I sleep as well as possible.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
I´m cutting right now and working with a nutritionist so I count everything I eat and I use an app called Cronometer to calculate and be sure I follow my macros and get all the vitamins and minerals I need. I keep my calories a little under 2000kkal now but regularly I have around 2500kkal.
I use supplements to be sure that I get everything I need to be the best I can. So I use a multivitamin in the morning and also take 5g of Optimum Nutrition Creatine.
Redcon1 Green Beret Protein powder is also a part of my diet and I like to use everything that comes in hand to get all the protein I need.
I also use Optimum Nutrition Plant Protein Powder and Optimum Nutrition Pre Workout. All their flavours are amazing.
Before bed, I take Omega3 (DHA and EPA) and a blend of magnesium, calcium and zink and of course as we have a very little sun in Iceland, vitamin D is very necessary.
I really really like cakes and I would love if I could only eat cakes. But they won’t help me at all becoming a world champion so I only have them rarely. If I crave something like cakes, candies or ice cream, I would have some but I try my best to minimize it.
I love coffee, I drink two cups a day on most days. Some days only one cup and some days, I’d go a little overboard but I think it’s all good. I do drink tea occasionally but I would not consider myself a tea drinker.
I do drink wine and beer sometimes but it’s very rare nowadays. I might get couple of drinks after I compete but when I am getting ready and in season I don’t want to drink because it affects my sleep, I guess.
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
I am my own inspiration, I guess. Of course, there are a great amount of role models out there that inspire me to be a better person. I also listen to couple of Icelandic podcasts to hear from other amazing athletes.
But in the end, it’s all about me, myself and I. I want to be happy when I finish this life and I want to be able to be proud of my accomplishments. So that is what inspires me.
Best advice I’ve received: Talents are nothing if you don’t put in hard work. It’s so true and it also means that people that are not born with the athletic gene have a chance to be the best just if they work hard.
I, for one, thought I would never be an athlete. I dreaded to go physical education in school (is it called that). I was the one with the excuses why I could not participate. There was a lot of soccer in those classes and I don’t like balls or loud noises, so maybe if they would have had some other sports like powerlifting, I would have found myself sooner as an athlete.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
Find your passion for movement.
There are millions of advices out there and a whole lot of good ones. Don’t take them all as truth though. Sometimes we take time to think things through and be rational but other times we have to be quick and just dive right into things.
Start slowly. Find your passion for movement. I started with going for long walks with a friend or listening to audiobooks, radio talk shows (we now have podcasts) or music.
Find out what sports are in you area. Find out if there’s anything for your age or gender (male, female or other) that you can participate in. If you just want to go to the nearest gym, do that. Go there, get familiar.
Maybe just use the treadmill for the first sessions if you are nervous or don’t have any background. Find out about the trainers at your local gym, figure if any would fit for you.
If you like go talk to them. If you don’t like any of them, find an online program or a coach online and start out slowly.
Just realise no matter what you do to want to improve yourself, know that there are no mistakes but only lessons learned.
Find your passions, find something that makes you happy and don’t forget how happy it makes you in the long run.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
I am not a coach, however, the usual question I get asked is: “How much protein do you eat, how much should I eat. Whats the best vegan macro ratio?” And my answer is always like this: It varies but there is no specific vegan macros but just macros that fit you at that specific time.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
Its very hard to get to know me but if you want to contact me or follow some of the stuff I put out I have got an instagram that Im very active on @huldabwaage. I’ve also got a YouTube channel but I’ve only got couple of videos up there Hulda Waage Vegan Powerlifter.
