The Bikini Academy

In this week’s episode Nicole and Alana discuss various relationships as a competitor, because a contest prep can certainly make them more challenging. Whether it be a lack of support or understanding, finding it difficult to balance prep and friendships, intimate time with your partner, low libido, not being able to partake in social meals, etc - there are many factors that can affect relationshi...

Understandably, the decision to embark on a contest prep isn’t an easy feat and requires a lot of consideration. Even with the right intentions, pre planning and dedication, sometimes things just don’t align or become unmanageable to carry on. We hear about the success stories in regards to competitive bodybuilding, but don’t often hear about the stories of why someone didn’t make it to the stage....

In this week’s episode, your hosts Nicole and Alana discuss all the things you want to avoid in a competition prep based on their cumulative knowledge and experience as pro athletes and coaches. Let’s face it, mistakes happen and they are an essential part in learning what works and doesn’t work for you as a competitor; and in life! However, we are here to tell you all about the key mistakes we ha...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  Your hosts Nicole and Alana are continuing on with some light and casual entertainment for our regular weekly and new listeners to get to know us better. So, in this week’s episode, Alana takes the hot seat as Nicole interviews her on background fitness journey to becoming a pro bikini competitor, how she became a bodybuilding coach, overcoming chronic...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  Being a brand new year, we wanted to take the opportunity for our regular and new listeners to get to know their hosts Nicole and Alana a little better. So in this week’s episode, Nicole takes the hot seat as Alana interviews her on background fitness journey to becoming a pro bikini competitor, how she became a bodybuilding coach and judge, biggest acc...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  In this week’s episode your hosts Nicole and Alana are bringing you the second part of our series on the Menstrual Cycle and the female athlete. As female athletes and coaches ourselves, we understand how important this topic is as a competitive bodybuilder, and want to ensure that you are informed and educated when it comes to the physiological changes...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  In this week’s episode your hosts Nicole and Alana are bringing you the first part of our series on the Menstrual Cycle and the female athlete. As female athletes and coaches ourselves, we understand how important this topic is as a competitive bodybuilder, and want to ensure that you are informed and educated when it comes to the physiological changes...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast! In this episode, your hosts Nicole and Alana provide insight into who we are, what we do as coaches and athletes; and why we love doing it! We discuss the importance of finding your “why” as a competitor, how we were both drawn into this sport, and an insight into our competitive journeys to date as natural bikini pro’s. We provide practical advice on how to...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast! The girls are back!  With a new year comes renewed motivation and hope for a fresh start. So if you're in the process of setting your new year's resolutions, we're here to help! In our first weekly episode for this year, Nicole and Alana share a wrap-up of 2023 and what they were able to achieve in their personal and professional lives. As we...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  Your TBA hosts, Alana and Nicole, are back together! In this week’s episode we welcome back Alana from her overseas trip to the US/Canada; and do a WNBF Worlds wrap up, hearing about her experience in Seattle.  We dive straight into talking about how to navigate the current holiday period; as for some, this can be an overwhelming time where you feel tor...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  In this week’s episode we are joined by Australia's newest IFBB Bikini Pro Lisa Reid after returning home from her pro card win in the Bahamas. Being a well known and highly successful competitor within the community over many years, we dive into Lisa’s journey to this pivotal point in her career.  We also discuss her experience competing at the ama...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  In this week’s episode we are welcomed by two newly crowned ICN Fitness Pro’s Lauren Duncan and Dakota Cairns. It’s very rare to meet a competitor that turns pro in their first competitive season, let alone two and both at such a young age! Tune in as we find out more about the girls journey’s to the stage as two stand out physiques seen this season. We...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  In this week’s episode we have our first official special guest! A fantastic representative of natural bodybuilding in Australia and close friend - ICN fitness pro and coach Montana Owens. We find out about Montana’s previous competitive history, why/how she got into bodybuilding, and hear about her goals and vision for competitions next year. We also a...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  The bodybuilding industry is booming nowadays, and while there are many incredible coaches out there, unfortunately this isn't always the case. But how do you ensure that your coach is the right fit for you? In this week’s episode, Alana and Nicole share their thoughts and considerations as coaches themselves; as well as having previously worked wit...

EP: 9 Embracing your physique on/off stage Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  The post-show experience can be difficult to navigate. You have likely spent several months dieting to get as lean as possible, and now you are now doing the complete opposite.  Seeing the scales trend up, although necessary, can feel as though you are undoing all of your hard work. When the body you have worke...

Welcome back to The Bikini Academy Podcast! Are you actually ready to start your prep? In this week’s episode, Nicole and Alana talk about the prerequisites required for being successful in this sport. We discuss what a comp prep entails, the importance of a pre-prep phase and finding the right coach for you. We also address the mental, physical and environmental aspects that competitor's shou...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast!  As female competitors we want the glitz and glam, but often for a lot of us being comp lean means losing an element of our femininity. In this week’s episode, your hosts Nicole and Alana share their point of views and perspectives on having breast augmentation surgery. We touch on our experience competing with and without breast augmentation, the societal pr...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast! With your hosts Nicole and Alana. The low after the high that is competing. You may have already felt some of the motions, but haven’t realised why you are with a sense of doubt, fomo or lack of discipline now that your season has ended. It can be challenging learning how to regain some normality after a period of rigidity and your time related goals have bee...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast! With your hosts Nicole and Alana. Reverse dieting - the diet after the diet. You’ve probably heard (and likely dismissed) that this phase is harder than prep itself. But now that your competitive season has ended, you may find yourself struggling to be the disciplined competitor that you once were. How did that happen?! In this episode we discuss a few of the...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast! If you're a first timer feeling overwhelmed by different categories and federations available to female competitors, you're not alone! You may be wondering "where do I fit?". In this week’s episode your hosts Nicole and Alana go into more detail about the differences across female categories and federations in Australia such as bikini, sport...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast! Comp season is in full swing, and we know that a lot of you are possibly looking at travelling to compete in additional shows to make the most of your season.  In this episode, your hosts Nicole and Alana provide insight into how to navigate peak week whilst travelling in prep. Having both competed interstate and internationally, we are able to share our firs...

Welcome to The Bikini Academy Podcast! It's comp season, which means peak week is upon us. In this episode, we will be discussing all things peak week. What is involved, what appointments to make and what essentials to pack to ensure that you are prepared for show day. We also give our best advice and tips on how to stay present on the day. As we know that show day can come and go in a blink o...