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Okay, welcome back to the podcast everyone. In this episode we have special guest Meri

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Abbado. Growing up in Split and eventually moving to the US, Mary is an accomplished

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bodybuilder and the only Croatian IFBB master bikini in the world, as well as the master

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bikini world champion 2022. And she'll be competing in the Master Olympia this summer.

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In this episode, we're going to learn more about her bodybuilding and her Croatian heritage.

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Meri, thanks for coming on the podcast. Hi, thank you for having me. Of course, I appreciate

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you taking the time. You know, I want to talk, I want to learn a little bit more about you

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and your upbringing. I know that you grew up in Split. Can you talk sort of a little

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bit about that and about your upbringing? Well, growing up in Split was amazing time.

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Those were 1970s and then 1980s as a teenager. I think those were the best time to be child

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and grow up in then former Yugoslavia. And growing up was very simple, but a lot of fun.

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As kids, we didn't have too much responsibilities. Our responsibility was only to go to school

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and bring good grades. And parents were just, if you know anything about Croatian parents,

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you know, they are very protective and sometimes overprotective and cater to their kids. So

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as kids, we just went to school and after school, have a lunch, do our homework. And

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rest of the day was just for playing with the friends in the neighborhood. In the evening,

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come home when your mom calls you for dinner before a cartoon. And that was about it. In

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summertime when school was off, it was all day having fun being on the beach, hanging

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out with friends. Basically, very happy, carefree childhood. I always remember fondly that period

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of my life. It was great. Yeah, I mean, it's so fun for me to be in Split and to be there,

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you know, for the summer and everything. I can only imagine growing up as a kid.

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It was great. You know, we didn't have all the technology that kids have today. It was

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just you and your bunch of your friends and you will invent games. We didn't have much,

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you know, we didn't spend much time watching television either because there was not much

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program for kids at that time. I remember during the week, there was only cartoon at

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7.15 until 7.30 before news. And every child in Croatia will then sit in front of television

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and watch that cartoon. So we all watched the same thing. We all did the same thing.

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On Sunday, there was a little children's program in the morning and that was about it. Rest

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of the time you were on your own. And it was so much fun because we had to be creative

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and come up with games, usually, you know, most of the time, you know, cowboys and Indians.

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And after with girls playing the dolls and just going to the beach and enjoying, you

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know, nature and everything that that area could offer. So it was great.

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Yeah, well, definitely a much simpler time than today with all the technology and everything.

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It's different. But I know also you grew up with there's a lot of famous athletes that

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came from, you know, that area around your time as well. I know you wanted to talk a

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little about that. Yeah. Well, as you know, that area is very, it's full of talent, especially

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athletic talent. So in mid 80s, like 84 to 89, when I was in junior and senior high school,

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there were a lot of new talented kids that caught the eye of international scouts like

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Tony Kukoc, Dino Raja. They were, we all knew each other because we all kind of grew up

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together, went to school together. I met Dino and Tony through my high school friend, Nenad

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Vidica, who was another great basketball player and played all over Europe. So I remember

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those times when they were just young teenagers, 16, 17 years old, and going to tournament

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all over Europe. And nobody really thought at that time about what's going to happen

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and or knew what's going to happen. But everyone was just happy to be doing something, you

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know, then Goran Ivanishvich, he was a couple of years younger than us. I used to see him

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all the time at Fyrulë tennis court practicing. Robert Yarny, he went to high school with

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me. He was then just starting to play soccer with junior or high-dook, but eventually he

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became one of the greatest soccer player, Croatian soccer player. And so many others,

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I mean, Split Produce, so many world-class water polo players. I have one of my best

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friends until today. She was a great handball player playing all over Europe and she was

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twice European champion. And I mean, on and on and on. There were so many of them that

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it was absolutely normal to have all these people around you and have your high school

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friend going to world championship and coming back with the gold. So very interesting time.

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And I never really pay attention much to that. None of us, we thought it was normal. But

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now looking back and knowing better, I just realized how tremendous talent was coming

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out from that small area. And those teenagers didn't even know what's going to happen in

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a few years that they're going to become those huge international stars and play for NBA

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and go winning world championships and Olympics. It's amazing. It's unbelievable to think that

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so much talent came from a small area. Yeah, that's incredible. That's still happening.

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I mean, for some reason, at that time, a lot of them came at the same time, I guess, maybe

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country was opening more towards the West and international scouts start looking into

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that area. But it's when you think about it, it's unbelievable. Yeah.

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Well growing up with all those, you know, people who ended up to be world class, world

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famous athletes, is that what sparked your interest in bodybuilding or did that come

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about? Not at all. I discovered my talent 50 years later. No, not 50. But you know,

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not at all. I was never athletic person. I not even in the school, in high school and

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elementary school, I would just play regular sports as a part of PE, but was never ambitious

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or competitive enough to join the team and be serious about anything, even though I always

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consider myself to be athletic, but not in that way, you know, as an athlete or professional

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athlete. So when this happened for me, I was surprised too that actually I have a talent

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for something and that I actually enjoy it and that I stuck with it, you know, until

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now. So not at all. I became, I started bodybuilding at age 45, which it's pretty late, even for

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American standards. What's the, what's the usual age that people start in female bodybuilding

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or in general bodybuilding? Earlier the better. We have, you know, girls who are just turning

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18 and they're already, you know, starting to compete in the NPC, which is a amateur

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league. And most of them are between, you know, in their twenties, early thirties. But

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now last few years, this sport, especially female bodybuilding, a couple of divisions

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like bikini division became really, really popular, especially with all this internet

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and, you know, people posting their videos, fitness and exercises. It really took off

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and not only with the young crowd, but with older women, 40 and up. I remember when I

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started in 2016, master class, which are masters are 40 and plus, were good, but not as good

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as today. They were kind of just starting to come out and the quality was not that great.

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But last couple of years, actually last three, three, three, four years, it really took off.

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It became so competitive and quality of athletes. It's just unbelievable that they can easily,

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you know, stand next to girls who are in their twenties and, and be competitive and sometimes

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even win against them. So that's the one of the reasons why IBB Pro League decided to

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bring master Olympia back after 11 years, because it was canceled. I don't know, 11

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years ago they tried and didn't work. So, but now with such a huge number of quality

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athletes, they brought it back and we are going to have master Olympia in August in

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Romania. And I was lucky enough to be chosen amongst 20 other bikini girls to compete for,

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you know, for the title. So I'm so thrilled. I still can't believe that this is happening

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because seven years ago when I was starting, that was never even a dream or ever crossed

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my mind that I would be even professional athlete.

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Well, what was your goal seven years ago, you know, when you first started, did you

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want to compete right away or did you sort of build into that later?

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No, I actually didn't know anything about bodybuilding at that time. And I stumbled

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into competing by chance. It was one of those things, you know, you do something and then

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it leads you to another thing and you just slowly progress. And for me, it was after

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my divorce and especially my kids, you know, growing, leaving the house, going to college,

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you kind of try to find a new identity. And I spent working out at home just for fun,

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just to, you know, feel good about myself. I did it for about a year and I really liked

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it. So I, at that time also, I started my fitness Facebook page, which became really

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quickly popular. Today I have about 100,000 women following me and they are mostly from

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a former Yugoslavia area because I speak and write in Croatian. So I was doing that and

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because I was giving them advisors and showing them exercises, I kind of felt like I need

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to educate myself a little bit more. So I got my license to be a person. I went to took

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a course, became personal trainer and also at the same time, started working as a personal

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trainer in LA fitness gym, where one of my managers, she used to compete. So she just

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kind of mentioned it to me, like, well, you look good and you know, you should try you

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to compete. Did you ever compete it? And I never even knew about that. It was completely,

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that world for me was completely unknown. So she gave me a website to check. I looked

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into it and more I was looking, more I liked it. And I say, you know what, let me enter

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one competition just to see how it is and to motivate myself to be a little bit more

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strict with my training and my diet. So I just prepared myself for 12 weeks, entered

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the show and it pretty well. I took a third place on my first show, regional show, you

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know, and I was so clueless at the time that I didn't even know how to pose on the stage.

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I would look at girls in front of me, what they're doing and then just kind of wing it.

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So I really liked the whole experience. It was very professionally done. Top athletes

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were competing in the IFBB Pro League section. So my boyfriend, when he saw that, he was

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amazed because he thought I'm just going for some little show somewhere in some high school

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and it's going to be like just, you know, disaster. But when he saw the quality and

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when he saw the athletes who were competing there, he just loved it so much because he

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used to do bodybuilding when he was in Marines. And he was the one who kind of pushed me to

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continue, you know, to at least have a couple of more shows. And at that time I hired the

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personal, I mean, I tried to hire the coach, which is very important, you know, if you

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want to compete even in amateur league, doing it on your own is really not enough. And I

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went from there. You know, once I start working with the coach, I already next competition

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won my first class. And we did a couple of shows. I also again won my class and overall.

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And at that time I was already qualified just by winning to go compete nationally. So one

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year later, exactly, actually one year later from my first competition, I went to Pittsburgh

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compete on national championship. And I not only won my pro card, but I won two pro cards

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and I won overall. So I was completely stopped. And I just thought, Oh my God, I'm on top

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of the world. And of course, once I start competing in a pro league, I realized that

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that's a completely different story. And I will have to work much, much harder to get

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to the point and catch up with the girls who were already competing in a pro league. So

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that's how it started. It's just one thing led me to another. And I never planned or

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expected to be in this sport for this long and this seriously, you know, so it was a

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great, great, I mean, still great experience.

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Sorry for the interruption, but this episode is sponsored by me and the book I wrote, All

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Things Croatia from Los Angeles to the home. I talk about growing up in the Croatian diaspora

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and ultimately moving to Croatia to further connect with my roots. It's available on Amazon

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as an ebook if you want to check it out. Now back to the episode. Well, what what goes

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into the competition as far as you know, what takes place? How does the competition work?

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I've never really watched any, you know, bodybuilding competitions, what goes on during them? How

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do they rank you? How does it work?

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It's a very long process. You know, bodybuilding is 24 hours for it. You know, you believe

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it's not just you train. And that's it. You really have to live bodybuilding, which means,

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you know, what you eat, how much you rest, how much you train, everything takes in the

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count and doesn't stop. There is no season. You know, we call it on and off season, but

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that actually doesn't mean in off season, you don't do anything. You actually try to

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train very hard. It's just that when you're off season, you're kind of building your physique.

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And then when it's the on season, you are starting to get ready to compete and compete.

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So usually my off season would be like six months when I'm building muscle. And then

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next six months, I'm kind of slowly getting ready, leaning out and getting ready for a

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show. And then you compete for maybe three, four months. So it used to be like six months

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off, six months on. But this last year I took almost is going to be like 10, 11 months in

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between my competitions. I competed last year at the world championship where I won. And

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I just felt like I need to build more of my lower body. So we decided to take a long off

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season to work on that. And just it happened that in middle of my off season, they announced

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a comeback of master Olympia. So I was so happy because I was already working on improving

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my physique for next year. And so usually once you decide on a show that you want to

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do, probably around 12 to 16 weeks before show starts, you start with the really rigorous

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training, not only training, but lifestyle, which means your social life is starting to

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go to zero. There is no going out to restaurants, traveling and anything that will disturb your

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routine. It has to kind of slowly stop. By the time you are like 10, six weeks away from

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show, it's basically eat, sleep and train. On a show day, depends where you're going.

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Sometimes competition is only one day. Sometimes it's two days. It's very stressful because

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you usually travel in other states to compete. And with strict diets and very little water

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on the day of competing, it is very stressful, not only on your body, but mentally and emotionally.

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And on a day of competition, you just wake up early in the morning, do makeup and hair.

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You do 10 one night before and just wait for your time to go on the stage. So we do all

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of this basically 24 hours a day for a very long time, sometimes years, just for a few

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minutes on the stage.

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Yeah, that sounds crazy to me almost. But it's worth it.

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Well, it's definitely worth it because bodybuilding teaches you a lot of things. I mean, I have

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completely changed the way of thinking. And since I became involved with the bodybuilding,

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you have to be super disciplined. You have to stick to a certain routine, which is very,

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very boring to most people. You eat same things over and over again. And not too many people

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can do that. It's very mental, not only physical. I would say that mental, it's even more mental

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than physical because everyone can go to gym for one hour, couple of hours, whatever. And

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you go home and then do whatever you want. But when you're a bodybuilder, you cannot

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do that. It's like a very strict regime. You eat every three hours. You need to get enough

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sleep, rest, because this is when your body is actually repairing and building. And as

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you age, of course, that becomes more and more difficult. It takes more time to build

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your muscle when you are older. It takes more time to recover when you are older. And I'm

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amazed and respect every single person who does that and stick to that plan because it's

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not easy.

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Yeah, definitely. It doesn't sound like it's easy at all. I mentioned to me the other day,

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Mary, that female bodybuilding can be misunderstood by some people. Can you talk about that a

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little bit and what you meant by that?

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Well, it's misunderstood by most people, especially in Croatia. I mean, because sport is not very

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popular over there and especially female bodybuilding. When you say female bodybuilder in Croatia

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or anywhere in the world, they automatically think about like bodybuilders, women, bodybuilding

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category of women. What I mean by that, there are different divisions in female and male

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bodybuilding competitions. It goes from bikini, which is very still feminine. And somebody

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would say, okay, these people don't work really hard. It's just a little definition of muscle

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and it's more like a fitness look. Then you have wellness, which are girls who have a

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larger, heavier lower body. So they develop really big legs. Their legs are bigger than

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upper body. Then you have figure and physique. And at the end you have a bodybuilder women.

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So when you talk about bodybuilding, people usually always go and think about that division

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and they don't like it because they don't like the overly masculine look on a woman.

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And a lot of people believe that women should not lift the weights. This is now changing

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a lot with this new divisions becoming so popular, especially bikini division and wellness.

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Now everyone wants to compete. Everyone wants to be fitness model. And it became like almost

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there is no person who on the internet, on Instagram, who doesn't post their pictures

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from the gym and workouts. But if you are doing it professionally, it's not an easy

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task. It's very demanding and I think one of the most difficult sports out there.

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I'm sure definitely. It's good to hear that it's becoming more mainstream and more popular.

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More people are doing it. Mary, I'm looking forward to your event, the Olympia in Romania

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this August, this summer. That's going to be really awesome. I just have a couple of

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quick very short questions for you as we wrap up here. Just three or four quick questions.

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First one is, have you been back to Croatia lately or do you have any plans to go sometime

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in the future? Last time I was there in winter of 2019, I

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think 19 and then COVID happened and last couple of years, I'm just so busy with training

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that I can't take time to go there. Most of my competitions are in the summertime. So

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when I want to go to Croatia, I can't because I'm competing. And in the winter time, it's

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very difficult to go there and it's cold. I kind of, you know, I was going there in

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the winter time, but I love going to Croatia and I have been postponing it. I have friends,

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very good friends from my childhood still there. And they're a little bit upset with

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me because every year I tell them next summer, next summer, and I keep competing and competing.

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So hopefully next summer or maybe this coming winter, we'll see. But definitely I have plans

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to go there. I love going to Croatia. Awesome. Yeah. On that note, I have one more

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Croatia related question and then one final question after that. What makes Croatia so

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special? We have everything, you know, from great weather, from beautiful islands and

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the sea, all that coast, Croatia, Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, it's beautiful, still

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almost untouched and people can take a boat and go from island to island and feel like

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they're somewhere far away where there's no people, you know. Then we have mountains,

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we have beautiful national parks. I mean, we do have everything and food is good. People

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are nice. I always hear only good things about tourists coming back from Croatia, especially

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in the last few, last maybe 10 years when Croatia became an international destination.

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Split had kind of completely changed. I'm amazed how much it changed from the time I

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used to live there. So I think if you want to go anywhere in summer in Europe, Croatia

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is must. Yeah, I agree. Definitely. Of course. And

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split as well in Croatia is definitely a must. Especially with the young people. I hear a

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lot from young people. They love to go to split and all those islands and party scenes.

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So it seems like that's going to continue because more and more people have Croatia

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on their bucket list. Definitely. Yeah. Well, Mary, it's been an honor

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having you on the podcast. I appreciate you taking the time to come on and really looking

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forward to the next competition from you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It was

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great talking to you.