Five Questions with Former CFL Cheerleader Robyn Baldwin
We’re starting a new weekly (hopefully) feature called “Five Questions with…”
We’re happy to kickoff the new feature with blogger, fitness competitor and former CFL Cheerleader Robyn Baldwin.
Growing up Robyn was a dancer. She was formally trained in Ballet and grew up performing in full length ballets with her school (Les Petits Ballet) in Ottawa.
In 2004 Robyn cheered for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. When she cheered for Hamilton it was an outdoor stadium. The uniform had long sleeve tops and full pants and the cheerleaders called them “the snow suits”, in the summer they were sweltering but the uniforms did their job and kept the ladies from being cold in the Fall. Robyn says while it was fun cheering outside, however, she learned to give up the lip gloss or her hair would be blown by the wind and stick to her lips.
The next year she graduated from McMaster University with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce (major in Marketing) and a minor in Political Science. She moved to Toronto after graduation and cheered for the Toronto Argonauts in 2006
Robyn in her Argos Cheerleader uniform
Today Robyn works in advertising. She’s a media supervisor for a large size advertising agency in Toronto. It’s the financial, strategic side of the business. She tries to figure out based on consumer behavior and media habits how the media budgets are best spent.
She’s also a fitness competitor and model. She was featured in the February/March 2010 of Inside Fitness Canada as one of Canada’s Hot and Fit 100.
1. How do you make time for your day job, modeling, working out and competitions?
I am a great multitasker. Since I was in High School I’ve always been overly involved in as many activities as possible. In High School it was student’s council, running leadership camps, singing in the choir, musical theatre, and band. In University it was no different, musical theatre, dance club, cheering for the Ticats (in my 4th year) and business clubs such as organizing the McMaster World Congress and launching McMaster’s Apprentice program took up alot of my spare time outside of class. When I moved into the working world I still wanted a life outside of the office. Cheerleading for the Argos was a great escape and passion for me. Now that I’m older I still wanted a new hobby and passion to have outside of my career. I discovered fitness. Since University I’ve always been a gym rat but never a dedicated one. In January 2009 I made a commitment to a healthier lifestyle. I’ve been eating clean, lifting weights and pursuing a second career as a fitness model and competitor. I’ve learned true time management and I get up a lot earlier! Right now I’m in the gym at 6:30am lifting weight with my trainer, then it’s off to work. I may do yoga or cardio at lunch time or research a new blog for my website. Then after work I do 20-30mins of cardio and home I go to relax, do food prep and pack my gym bag to do it all over again for the next day. I also dedicate Sunday afternoons to grocery shopping and the majority of my meal prep time. I’ve been modeling since University as a hobby so I’ve know for a while how to schedule shoots. I just make sure to work it out w/ photographers to shoot on weekends or in the evenings after work.
2. What do you hope folks take away from your fitness posts and vlogs?
I was inspired to find fitness by a cover model for Oxygen Magazine. Ashley Harrison was on the cover in January 2009. She cheered for the Ticats in 2005. All it took for me was looking at the photo and saying “why can’t I look like that too?” Through my blog posts about fitness and my vlogs about my training I hope to inspire at least one person to try a new exercise, get motivated to go to the gym or simply take little steps to feeling healthier. If I can inspire someone else to try a fitness competition as an end goal to a healthier lifestyle then it would be my pleasure. Getting comments on my pictures on facebook or about my gym tweets on twitter or about my vlogs means the world to me. Having someone tell me for the first time that I inspired them gave me more goosebumps then stepping on stage for the first time.
3. What made you decide to become a fitness competitor?
I decided to become a fitness competitor because I love having goals. Having a time line to get fit really pushes you to take control of your eating habits and fitness level. I like having that date to track my workouts so I know how hard to push myself so that I can build more muscle. I also love the feeling of being on stage. I’m a performer so I crave those spotlights! I also like the community that it has. The women and men are very supportive towards each other and meeting people at workshops or at the shows have created great new friendships in my life. Just like cheerleading… There are some girls from my 2004 and 2006 teams that I still talk to on the daily and will always be a part of my life. Fitness competitions have provided that too which is awesome.
Robyn in her first fitness competition.
4. How have you done so far?
My greatest accomplishment so far in the fitness contest circuit was placing top 10 in the UFE Halloween Mayhem 2009 show in October. I competed 5 times last year. 2 times I have no idea how I placed. 2 times I placed top 10 and 1 time I placed dead last. Each time I learned something new, went through emotional roller coasters but definitely learned that I can always improve and that I definitely am hooked on competing. I also learned that your placements doesn’t define who you are or your career in the fitness industry. Obviously I want to win. I’m a competitive person but I’m still loving the journey, process and how far I’ve come so far.
5. What plans do you have for 2010?
I would love to get my WBFF pro card and continue competing. I am what you call a hardgainer. So although when my metabolism changed and I developed “skinny fat”. It’s really hard for me to put on muscle. I have already gained 5 lbs since December 2009. My goal is another 10 lbs of muscle by July 2010.
I am creating my vision board for 2010. In addition to 2010 competitions, I would love to get published in more magazines. A cover with Oxygen would be a dream came true as that’s where it all started. I would like to create more fun vlogs and possibly do some writing for the fitness magazine and online world.
I plan to thrive at my media career and prove to myself that I can really do it all. My blog has three aspects to it that are centered around being an Alpha Female. I talk about fitness and how I stay healthy and active to be able to accomplish my career and fitness competing. I talk about career tips and then I talk about social media which helps me balance all my obligations, find new opportunities and manage my personal brand.
I also want to throw in some travel just to be able to experience new places as well. I’ll fit it all in for sure.
From Inside Fitness: One of Canada’s Hot and Fit 100
If you’ve got a suggestion for who we should talk to next, email us (james@procheerleaderblog.com or sasha@procheerleaderblog.com)
