2x Pro Figure World Champion Shannon Petralito Spills Her Fitness Secrets!

Shannon Petralito is an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist, competitive figure & bikini coach, published writer, spokesperson, fitness model & health & wellness expert.

She is WBFF Figure World Champion & also holds the world title of Miss Figure Universe 2011. She also holds a Bachelor Of Science degree from the University Of Massachusetts, Boston & has a passion for educating people on improving their quality of life through self belief, proper nutrition and exercise.

Her fitness journey began in 2009 while she was going through an Oxygen magazine one day & she decided that she wanted to try and compete. With the support of her family & friends & the desire to succeed & the courage to follow her dreams she has achieved many things to be grateful for these past few years.

Her goal is to spread her knowledge & passion of health & fitness to other women and show them that they to can achieve their dreams & aspirations just as she has, it’s never to late.

She says:

You have the power to do great things, believing in yourself & having the support of others around you makes anything possible!

Know all the fitness secrets of WBFF Figure World Champion Shannon Petralito as she catches up with Namita Nayyar, President Women Fitness.

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You began your fitness journey in 2009 and reached the pinnacle of success by becoming WBFF Figure World Champion & winning the world title of Miss Figure Universe 2011. Tell us more about this incredible fitness journey?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

An incredible journey it has been for sure!!!! What started out as a goal to get into the best shape of my life after having my son in 2004 eventually turned into the decision to compete in my first figure competition in 2009 at the age of 33! Proving age is not a limiting factor in the fitness industry!! Each year as I got older the successes became bigger recently leading to two of my biggest accomplishments as a professional athlete and fitness model. Winning the 2015 WBFF Figure World title and landing 2 covers within the same year!!! It has been an amazing journey so far and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store!!!

All content on this site is copyright of Women Fitness and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.

All Written Content Copyright © 2017 Women Fitness

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You are a ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist, competitive figure & bikini coach, published writer, spokesperson, fitness model & health & wellness expert. How do you manage such a remarkable multi-dimensional lifestyle?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

I certainly hold an immense amount of gratitude just reading these titles! I had a vision and several goals knowing in my heart this was what I was meant to do & I continued to pursue them all. Reaching them took faith, dedication & an immense amount of hard work and determination!

The fitness industry has given me in so many amazing experiences that lend to that multidimensional lifestyle. I am so fortunate to be a part of some pretty amazing companies and brands such as Body Ambition Fitness, The WBFF, Quest Nutrition, TrimFit weight loss water, Ludwear Apparel, Fit Mark Bags & PunchD Energy to name a few! I’ve recently accepted a position as a regular columnist with BFW magazine as well!

Heck yeah I am busy and sometimes my life seems crazy but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If there are ever days that I feel overwhelmed I always remember the times I prayed for this, the hours I spent working towards these goals and the crazy days are all worth it! Managing it all requires planning, organization and prioritization! With so many different things going on it’s easy to forget things if you don’t schedule them in! I don’t have an assistant, I don’t have an agent, I do this myself so I always pride myself on working hard and building respectable relationships with the companies I work with!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

Well, things are a little different for me in terms of past training vs present training. For the last 6 years my primary focus was on competition prep training, building, creating symmetry and working towards my goal of a world champion figure physique! This meant training 6 days a week, splitting body parts & limited cardio choices, I mainly used a recumbent bike and did Low Intensity Cardio. Build phases vs cutting phases and lots of posing practice in between!

Fast forward to now and I am currently not training for a show so my training style has shifted. I have been presented with some pretty amazing opportunities on the fitness model side of things so my training consists of upper body circuits, full body circuits, lower body splits twice a week & some HIIT training such as Tabatas. I also incorporate a couple of runs in a week as well as step mill or bike intervals. Focusing on a more all around marketable and attainable look. I’m loving the variety!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

Do you take some special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

For me, competition prep dieting is very strict and is very dependent upon timing my foods correctly, carb cycling and cycling my fats. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT!! What works for me is NOT necessarily what you should be doing. I’m just simply saying that in order to get competition lean it takes a lot for me to get there. I also want to stress that this is not a way to live on a regular basis for long periods of time!! It is not healthy for your body to remain in that state for too long. As a successful competitive physique athlete you must respect your body on season & off season.
This brings me to answering your question about my current nutrition plan. With no shows this past year or coming up I have a manageable long term healthy meal plan in place. I do not eliminate food groups, I do not deprive myself of occasional treats. My skin looks healthy, my hair looks healthy and I feel healthy!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Do you take some kind of skin treatment to keep it young and glowing and secondly what you do to your hair to make them look so stunning?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

Well thank you! I truly believe that it starts from the inside! What you fuel your body with on a daily basis matters!! Drinking lots of water is so important too!!! For example, healthy fats such as omega 3’s & oils such as avocado oil are so important for healthy hair, skin & nails! Foods containing Vitamin C are also important! Eggs are great too & contain sulfur which is necessary for the production of collagen & keratin! Blueberries contain age fighting antioxidants and promote hair growth as well!

As far as supplementation that I use for hair, skin & nails I take Reservatrol as well as Bullet Proof Collagen protein daily. I also incorporate coconut oil into my skin care regimen. The rest can be attributed to proper hydration & nutrition!

Video

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

Share with us your Top 3 Favorite Nutritional Recipes.

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

Quest Protein Waffle Sandwich

Recipe from blog.questnutrition.com

1 scoop Quest® Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder

½ tsp baking powder

3 eggs

2 slices of bacon

⅓ cup water

• Heat a waffle iron to medium-high heat.
• In a large bowl, whisk together Quest Protein Powder®, baking powder, water, and 1 egg.

– Coat waffle iron with cooking spray.

• Add a waffle batter and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Cook bacon on skillet to desired crispiness.
• Cook egg to desired preference.
• Cut waffle in half and add evenly divide bacon and remaining eggs into each waffle sandwich.

Healthy Chicken Salad

– 1 Can Chicken – can use Tuna too!

– 1 Tbs FF Greek Yogurt

– 1/3 C Chopped Gala Apple

– 2 Tbs Chopped Red Onion

– 2 Tbs Chopped Celery

– 1 Tbs Chopped Walnuts

– Sea Salt, Pepper & Onion Powder to taste

Healthy Turkey & Peppers

-1lb 99% lean ground turkey

-1 tsp of cumin – mix in with turkey

-1/2 of red & yellow onion

-1/2 C Trader Joe’s Bruschetta – mix in with turkey

• 1/4 C Organic Chicken Broth.

Cut organic peppers in half and fill with half cup of Turkey mixture.

Pour 1/2 Organic Chicken Stock on bottom of baking dish and add peppers – bake at 400 for 35 minutes! Yum!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You are a wonderful mother and a professional fitness competitor. What are your Top 5 Tips for managing personal and professional life?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

Thank you so much! Being a parent is the most important job one could have! I appreciate the compliment!! I am proud of the little man we are raising!

Balancing professional life and personal life can be difficult !! Some of my top tips that help me manage both would be:

1. Setting a schedule!!! This is a must! Especially for me when I work from home. Writing out a schedule helps balance things a bit more! Block times off for all things in your day so you are not doing 5 things at once, yes this means schedule your laundry and cleaning too! You will be way more productive this way!!! Make a daily list of what needs to be done that day in order of priority & schedule it out!

2. Set standards & boundaries! For example, there are planned family days where I do not answer e-mails or messages. Uninterrupted time together is a priority for us as a family because our schedules can get crazy! On the flip side, when my clients need me I am there, I prioritize them on the days and hours I set for that. I do my best to not overlap the two, I am not saying it never happens but I try my best!

3. Take care of yourself!!! If you are running yourself into the ground and never catching a break or never taking time for yourself you will be less productive in both your personal and professional life!! You need to have a healthy balance!! This includes eating well, exercising and doing something nice for yourself!!

4. Learn your limits! It’s ok to say no if your spread thin!! It’s better to be respected for a job well done in life than be disrespected for being unreliable and making promises you can’t keep and disappointing people!

5. Respect family life just as much as professional life! This is a huge factor for me, I am very careful about what I share as a public figure. I do not offer excess details about my family, I do not post photos of myself that would be questionable as a mother and a wife and I do not share personal experiences that should be kept within our home, some things are sacred. This is the same respect I have for the people I work with, I do not openly share and repeat things about my clients unless they are in agreement with me doing so such as personal progress photos or personal transformation stories.

Video

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You recently appeared on the International Fitness Cover – Fitness Hers South Africa 2016. How did it feel being on the cover of such a popular magazine?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

Words really cannot describe how incredible this feeling was! I will never forget my Skype call with cover photographer Jamie Watling. He basically had me fooled by telling me that nothing was really going on in terms of the images we submitted, he then pulled up an image from our shoot for me to look at and next to it he pulled up the cover image. My immediate response was “holy **** that’s not real!!! That’s not real is it?”  I was screaming and jumping up & down in disbelief! Heck, I still cannot believe it when I look at it!! This was years of hard work and determination and refusing to give up on one of my biggest dreams! I have so much gratitude!!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You have done many photo shoots and shown your spectacular chiseled physique. What advice do you wish to give to the women of today to be body confident in order to do such fitness modeling?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

Thank you! The biggest piece of advice I can give is realizing that confidence ALWAYS starts with loving who you are on the inside first! If you never learn to love yourself you will never truly be happy no matter what you look like on the outside! Second, there is so much creativity that can be shown through photography. You do not have to look like someone else, be as lean as someone else or feel as if your not good enough! Fitness modeling can capture so many different looks that inspire so many different people on so many different levels!

Do your research always, find credible photographers that coincide with your goals have fun & be creative!!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

You are a 2x World Figure Champion, what advice would you like to give to the inspiring and budding fitness athletes, who all are your fans, and shall like to know from you, what they should do for their climb to ladder of success in field of fitness competitions and modeling?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

A couple key pieces of advice I can give are to NEVER give up on yourself and your dreams!!  It took me years to accomplish some of my biggest goals! Second, do your research!!! There are so many coaches & information platforms out there. This does not mean everyone is credible! Be smart, ask questions, you are putting your health in someones hands when you prepare for a show. You should be comfortable in trusting that they have your best interests at heart and that they really know what they are doing!! As far as being successful in this industry ALWAYS remember your roots & where you came from as you move from one place to another as you grow.  It’s a very small industry in that respect and if you brand yourself the wrong way or have a bad attitude people will remember that.

Last but not least, never sell yourself short! If you truly want to be a successful athlete & model be very selective about the image you portray on social media! You DO NOT have to do what everyone else is doing for followers and likes, be yourself and work hard towards YOUR specific goals! Time wasted worrying what others are doing is time you could be spending on furthering yourself! Good Luck!

Ms. Namita Nayyar:

What do you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and message for its visitors?

Ms. Shannon Petralito:

First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share a little glimpse of me with your readers!! Your website is simply awesome!! Providing readers from all over the world with a one stop shop to great information on beauty, fitness, fashion, health & wellness and even for moms to be!

Video