Building Confidence and Resilience in a Competitive World

Adrienne Na of @fitadrienne on Instagram had a conversation with our team to share her fitness journey in competitive bodybuilding and as a trainer. Adrienne thinks of fitness as a huge passion and hobby in her life that compliments her career as a board-certified Naturopathic Doctor. Adrienne has also been a personal trainer for several years, and she still takes on 1:1 clients every once in a while.

“When I share my history with bodybuilding it might inspire them to workout more or eat cleaner, but if it doesn’t fit their lifestyle then I would never recommend it.”

Adrienne believes that part of her responsibility as a Doctor is to be an example of what she preaches to her clients. Even though bodybuilding is a huge passion in her life she doesn’t preach it as a method to all her clients. “When I share my history with bodybuilding it might inspire them to workout more or eat cleaner, but if it doesn’t fit their lifestyle then I would never recommend it. Bodybuilding is not for everyone and it is not the best way to sustain a healthy lifestyle. This is why I try to keep my Naturopathic practice separate from my work in fitness. My social media is focused on inspiring and sharing my fitness journey.”

We then took a walk down memory lane as Adrienne shared how she started her fitness and bodybuilding journey. After taking her final exams for her naturopathic degree she had a 3-month waiting period before she got her results of the exams… Adrienne decided to use these 3 months to work on herself. This led her to hire a personal trainer for the very first time. Her trainer began working with her and eventually encouraged her to start competing. “I entered my first show after 3 months. It was a small, local show. I ended up placing and have continued competing since then. I entered my first show in 2013 so it’s been 10 years of competitions now."

Adrienne went on to share that she used not to feel comfortable with her body and felt insecure. She shared how she used to be very skinny and would often get asked if she had an eating disorder. “I came to Canada at the age of 17, and English was not my first language,” Adrienne explained that the silver lining of not speaking a language fluently was that she learned how to be an active listener. Fitness training is what eventually helped her build strength in her body and resilience in her mind. Adrienne shared how the body frame she has today has been 10 years in the making, not something she built overnight.

“There were not a lot of Korean women represented in bodybuilding when I started. I was one of the few faces.”

Adrienne’s confidence grew over time. She shared how exciting it was when she started to be approached by Korean magazines for interviews and campaigns. “There were not a lot of Korean women represented in bodybuilding when I started. I was one of the few faces.” This helped Adrienne start to understand that maybe she could use her story to inspire and motivate others. Her Instagram channel began as a diary for herself. Even today, Adrienne loves that she can scroll down and see her progress and journey over time.

We had so much fun speaking with Adrienne! She was inspiring and so authentic and open in sharing her story. If you’d like to connect with her you can find her on Instagram @fitadrienne. Rumor also has it that she has a website dedicated to fitness coming out soon that you should probably keep an eye out for!