Amber Walker
Born in Melbourne, Australia, I spent most of my life on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula with my Family. I began my sporting life as a competitive gymnast at an early age before crossing over to Track and Field in high school. Specialising in Sprinting over distances of 100, 200 and 400 metres I also held Victorian records in Triple Jump. My other two sporting Interests in high school were Competition Aerobics and Lifesaving, which both allowed me to travel Australia to compete at a national level. In my final year at The Peninsula School I was elected by my peers as the first female Sports Prefect.
After High School I got my personal trainer's accreditation and attended Monash University studying Nursing before transferring to Bio-medical Science where I specialised in Exercise Physiology. During this time I worked in modelling and promotions, personal training clients in my spare time. I travelled Australia again as a grid girl for the V8 supercars and attended photo shoots for magazines such as FHM and RALPH in exotic locations throughout Asia.
In 2009 After having two children of my own I decided to compete in a body sculpting competition. Little did I know later that same year I would be crowned the World Best Body Champion. When I was crowned World Champion in 2009 I decided to focus on a new goal which was to inspire other women and Mothers to reach for their dreams. .
Promoting a Healthy lifestyle is now my passion, whether someone is young or old, living a healthy lifestyle will benefit not only themselves but those around them and of course the healthier we are as individuals the healthier we are as a community..
My passion and purpose in this life is to motivate, inspire and encourage other people, especially Mothers to live not only a healthy, active life but to also reach for their dreams.
I believe that just because a woman is a mother it does not mean she needs to put her needs behind that of the family. A mother is often seen as the main caregiver, nurturer and homemaker of the family. It is rarely questioned that a mother will put the needs of her children before her own. However for a Mother to be able to give 100% to her family, to be the best mother possible for her children, she must first be the healthiest version of herself. When I talk about health I include the physical as well as the psychological.
Many Mothers I work with initially come to me wanting to regain their pre-pregnancy figure, and they are usually shocked to discover that the simple matter of changing their diet and exercise is usually not enough to change their figure long term. To change anything you must first change your mindset, you must first have meaningful and fulfilling goals, and a desire to reach those goals. Fitting into an outfit that was worn pre-children is usually not a big enough goal to inspire life-changing habits. Sure you may reach the weight you were aiming for but will that really make you a happy, healthy person? My goal in life is to inspire women to be the best woman they can be and I believe to be that a woman must push herself and create goals that mean something to her and enrich her life. If she is working towards something more than a dress size she is going to be a healthier and happier Mother.
Most people I know are very supportive of my goals, on a daily basis I receive emails, messages and even good old fashioned, hand written fan mail from mothers around the World, thanking me for providing inspiration and motivation. I have the occasional haters who are sceptical, jealous or purely disagree with my training philosophies, which is all part of being in the industry. However more surprisingly I have a small group of women closer to home that like to openly criticize and undermine what I do. I often arrive at school drop off in my gym attire ready to go straight to training. Not aware of the dress code put in place by a small group of mothers, One day I am criticized for wearing my shorts too short, (obviously showing too much skin) the next day the group of mothers in question are 'embarrassed' because my long crossfit socks are ‘pathetic’ (confusing because this means I am showing less skin?) It’s not just my outfits these women feel they need to gossip about, but also my choice of company and what I do in my personal time.
A minority group of women is not going to stop me from striving for my goals and I will continue to do what I love. However I do find it interesting and believe this re-enforces my point that goals are so important. If these women had goals that were fulfilling to them they wouldn’t be so concerned with what I was wearing or doing in my spare time. I can only imagine what they could actually achieve if they focussed on living their own lives instead of talking about the lives of others.
"I've been training with Amber for just two months and have accomplished more than I could've ever dreamed in that time. Amber understands that not everyone has the same body composition and constructs a workout specialized to work for each person to achieve their personal goals. Amber is extremely qualified and educated in training and will make a workout that challenges you, while putting special attention on correct form with each exercise. Whether you just want to lose some weight or become a bodybuilder, from the diet to the exercise, Amber will help you change your life for the better!"
Caitlin Bailie – Student/Nanny and Fitness Competitor
If you’re overweight, chances are you have a reason why you’re overweight. Overweight people always have a reason or an ‘excuse’ as to how they became overweight. They were ‘stressed’, or were ‘sick’, ‘had a baby’, were ‘busy at work’, ‘went on a holiday’, ‘had an injury’, inherited ‘bad genetics’, and my personal favourite “didn’t have time to be healthy”.
Recently I asked a male friend of mine and fellow fitness center member to spot me doing seated lateral raises… what started as a serious shoulder workout ended in hysterics of laughter, with fellow gym goers left wondering what they were missing out on. Apparently there is a set of rules somewhere about “how to spot a girl” with a fine line between being useful and looking creepy.
I am a strong believer of living life to the full, If you stay within your comfort zone the question has to be asked... Are you really living? Or merely existing??
Winter is a perfect time to set some new goals and get out of your comfort zone!!
After meeting a good friend for coffee last week I finally realised the perception of perfection within the fitness industry is slightly, if not completely ajar. The definition of perfection is: faultless, excellent, exact, precise and entire (Oxford Australia Dictionary). Over the past few years in Australia the obesity rate has continued to climb, despite the cult following of “Fitness Gurus” and “TV trainers” whom we as a society perceive as perfect. According to the definition outlined to us in the dictionary, these trainers may be just that… but is that helping or hindering our nations fitness endeavours?
When i first told my friends and family that I was planning on competing in bodysculpting competitions they laughed.... and laughed. One after another they hissed "doesnt that mean you will have to stop eating chocolate?!", "You could never give up chocolate!!!". And they were right. Although I "cut back" on indulging during the competition preparation I was never able to eliminate the substance from my diet. It was only being hampered by injury two weeks out of last years World Championship assault that I decided I needed to do something "drastic", and was free from chocolate for 14 days... the longest I can ever remember.
The most important thing you can do when it comes to Fitness is to set yourself some clear Goals. I encourage my clients to set and write down SMART goals.
Be Specific, make sure you know exactly what you want in detail.