Success Secrets of Women's Tri-Fitness World Champion, Sylvia Ferrero

(as interviewed by Doug Jackson)

What is Women's Tri-Fitness?

The sport of Fitness is still in its infancy stages with the Women’s Tri-Fitness being both the youngest and toughest of the fitness competitions out there! It is basically where Barbie is fused together with GI Jane! It takes place over 2 days and consists of 3 separate fitness events along with one pageant-like presentation:

Grace & Physique Round:a pageant-like presentation of the athlete’s physique in a two piece swim suit where she must present grace, poise & feminine athleticism.
Fitness Skills:3 separate skills that test the athlete’s speed, agility, speed, coordination, focus and endurance. They consist of a football style Shuttle Run for best time, 50 Box Jumps for best time, and Bench Press 60% of the athlete’s weight for up to 50 reps.
Fitness Routine:a 2 minute choreographed routine which includes gymnastics, dance and displays of strength, flexibility and endurance set to music.
Obstacle Course:a military style obstacle course race consisting of 10 elements that the athlete must execute in the shortest amount of time. It spans the length of a football field and back.

When did you start training seriously for the recent competition?

I decided to start training for the Women’s Tri-Fitness World Challenge around 7 months before the event. I was under the guidance of several coaches, including Billy Beck III (strength, event prep, physique prep, nutrition), Lee Fiocchi over at Perfect Competition Athletic Development Center (speed, agility) and Yadi Soler & Sandra Augustin (fitness routine choreography). Because there are several events and this being my retirement year in the sport of fitness I wanted to make sure I tapped into the expertise of the best in the field and sport! Also, since I had won the World Challenge 4 years ago and no other past champion had ever been able to win the title twice, I knew it was going to be a huge challenge! I had to make sure I pulled out all the stops if I was going to come close to outdoing all my previous performances!

What did a typical week of training look like?

I would train about 15 hours a week on average. Basically, it was a part-time job…that’s just how I looked at it. It was an appointment I had to keep no matter what. Training, eating, visualization/meditation and sleeping were all scheduled into my agenda along with work and other personal day-to-day stuff.

My training schedule looked something like this:
Mon
AM – Weight Training & High Intensity Interval Training/Sprints & Event Specific Visualization
PM – Fitness Routine & Stretch, Meditation

Tues
AM – Prehab, Speed & Agility & Anaerobic Conditioning
PM - High Intensity Cardio & Stretch, Meditation, Event Specific Visualization

Wed
AM – Weight Training & High Intensity Interval Training/Sprints & Event Specific Visualization
PM – Fitness Routine & Stretch, Meditation

Thurs
AM – Prehab, Speed & Agility & Anaerobic Conditioning
PM - High Intensity Cardio & Stretch, Meditation, Event Specific Visualization

Fri
AM – Weight Training & High Intensity Interval Training/Sprints & Event Specific Visualization
PM – Fitness Routine & Stretch, Meditation

How important is nutrition in achieving the results you have?

EXTREMELY! 80% of how I looked on competition day was largely due to how I ate. What I ate and when I ate it determined my overall energy level when it came down to my performance during training. If I had a cheat day, you can bet I was feeling it at practice the next day! When I ate optimally, I was efficient and would suffer a lot less through my workouts! Basically, I would go into each training session knowing I was about to be put through physical, mental and emotional pain for a very long time! (sounds like fun huh?). The only way you get better is by pushing through your previous threshold so it was in my best interest to have the right fuel to get me through it all!

What was your nutrition and supplement protocol during your training?

Billy would change it up about every 4 weeks at first depending on how my body was responding but for the most part I was having a serving of protein, complex carbohydrate and fruit/vegetables every 3- 3 ½ hours. As the competition got closer we removed fruit and dairy completely to “tighten up” further. By the last 8 weeks all my food was no longer “eye balled”… it was precisely measured all the way down to the condiments! I had to finish off a minimum of a 3L bottle of water mandatory every single day. I was also taking several supplements from Total Nutrition primarily from the BB3 line as well as Amazon Herbs and SON Formula Amino Acids. Our food simply does not have the nutrients it did years ago because of how we’ve abused our environment. Not to mention the fact that I was putting my body through the grinder at a super intense level every day. So it was essential that my body had every nutrient readily available to repair and rebuild my muscles after the grueling workouts!

What type of mindset is required to become a World Champion?

No matter how much your body and mind scream to stop it always comes down to one thing… A CHOICE. Some people call it Will Power but I call it a decision. A decision to quit or to keep going. A decision to eat well or put junk in my body. A decision to get frustrated or to dig deeper. A decision to walk away from a workout when I was exhausted or to remember who I was and what I knew inside I was made of and never quit no matter what. It all sounds cliché but it’s the truth and it’s what helped get me onto that 1st place podium! Some days it took everything I had to remember to stay present in the moment of each workout and not think about how many reps I had left, how many exercises I had left to get through, how many more hours of training I had left that day after that workout was done! I’m not going to lie; some days were brutal…like the pain and exhaustion were never going to end! And other days I was so fired up that no one could stop me and I actually wanted more! I found that the days that I succeeded the most were those days I just took it one moment at a time and just milked it for the very best I could pull out of myself!