DDT: Could you give us a little background info on who Alyssa Rose is?
Alyssa: Yes! First I would like to mention my name is Alyssa LoGrande. Rose is just my middle name and I have always used it for my social media and it just kind of stuck! But I am 19 years old and go to San Diego State University! I am a full time student and work part time at the Marriott Marquis and Marina. My goal is to pursue a career in Hospitality Tourism Management. People are often surprised to find out what I am going to school for. I like to keep my career and business goals separate from my fitness goals because I never want to my passion for fitness to turn into a job.
DDT: What drove you to go through the journey of contest prep and competing in the bikini division?
Alyssa: I started lifting my senior year of high school and continued to fall in love with the process. I researched everything about training and have come up with my own programs throughout the years. I am always looking to challenge myself and set new goals. I always had the idea to compete in the back of my mind and in April 2015 I decided hey what better time than now! I felt that I already had a solid foundation for the stage in the bikini division and I wanted to take my physique to that next level. I love the grind of prep and pushing myself every day to become better.
DDT: What gets you excited about stepping on stage when the lights and music come on?
Alyssa: I think what gets me most excited is the fact that this is my moment. After all the months of prep you just soak it all in on show day and tell yourself hey I made it! I love being on stage. It also probably has to do with how I loved theater as a kid and performing. I don’t get nervous and just like to pump myself up and rock it!
DDT: What are your 2016 goals within competing…Any interest in transitioning into the figure division?
Alyssa: My 2016 goals within competing are to start prep again in April and do a nice gradual cut and compete again in August! My goal is to hopefully get nationally qualified in August so I can compete in a national show by the end of the year. I get asked if I want to transition to figure a lot and I know it is because of my lower body development. I think figure is awesome but it is not a current goal. I want to do my best in bikini for a while and condition my physique for the bikini division. However, I have a lot of time and naturally to be a killer figure competitor will take me many years to build my physique to that level. I would rather kill it in bikini for now but who knows what the future holds.
DDT: Your legs and glutes are an obvious strong point on your physique, what have you done in the past, training wise to bring these areas up?
Alyssa: I attribute my leg and glute development to 11 years of soccer. Soccer created a great foundation for my legs. Then I started incorporating weight training and they really started to come together. Being short, I put muscle on quickly in my lower body so I need to be a little careful haha. I get too excited in the gym and always go really hard on leg day. In fact I have three. One heavy glute day where I do several glute isolation workouts like heavy barbell hip thrusts, reverse hack squats, and cable pull throughs to name a few.
I have one quad specific leg day which probably brought up my quads so quickly. Then a hamstring specific day. I would always set strength goals for myself with my squats, leg press, and deadlifts. When I started training, it was never with the intention to compete so I never really focused on training for the bikini division until I made that decision. This would be my first true off season as a bikini competitor so I will be bringing a whole new look to that stage in 2016. I will be focusing on conditioning my legs more so they won’t be as big on stage.
DDT: At times life throws challenges at you to test your mental toughness and heart as a person. What has been your biggest challenge in life and how did you overcome it?
Alyssa: My biggest challenges in life thus far were probably the health issues I developed at 17 and 18 years old. When I was 17, I developed a tumor in my mouth that dissolved all the bone and roots in the front of my mouth which caused me to get three teeth removed. I am still in the process of replacing my three front teeth and have gone through numerous surgeries over the past two years to get my mouth at a solid foundation in order to get implants and crowns.
In February of 2015, at 18 years old I developed an auto immune disease called Guttate Psoriasis. It’s a skin disease that covered my entire body in spots from head to toe. I am fortunate enough to get weekly treatments that have cleared the majority of my skin but it is still a work in progress and something I have to take day by day! This challenged me mentally being a young girl surrounded in a world where there is a huge emphasis placed on image. It taught me that I can love myself at any state and that having spots on my skin or missing teeth does not define who I am or mean I am less of a beautiful person or “different.” It taught me to not care what other people think and that I can get through anything. It is not your situation that defines you; it is what you make out of your situation. Still going through these issues today has made me a stronger person and I would not want my situation to be any different. They have made me who I have become today.
DDT: If you could give a first time bikini competitor “Alyssa’s 3 secret nuggets to competing,” what would those 3 nuggets be?
Alyssa: My 3 secret nuggets to competing would be:
- Truly find out your reason for why you want to compete. That will be your daily reminder for when you wake up in the morning and take on each day of prep.
- Don’t lose sight of who you are during prep. Continue to enjoy the things you love to do and the people around you. Your life should not change much during prep. It is all about balance.
- Enjoy the process! Seriously have fun! I can truly say I loved prep and the challenges that came with it.
Fun Time!
DDT: What does your current off-season training look like?
Alyssa: I lift 6 days a week and have three lower body days and three upper body days. My lower body days are glute and hamstring heavy and my upper body days are shoulder heavy. I am also decreasing the amount of cardio I have been doing since I just ended prep a few weeks ago.
DDT: If you are left with 30g of protein, 100g of carbs and 30g of fats…what would this meal consist of?
Alyssa: Oh my the endless possibilities! Since I have a sweet tooth I would probably make a protein smoothie bowl base with PE Science Snickerdoodle protein powder and then top it with a chocolate chip cookie, a variety of cereals and some peanut butter of course.
DDT: Your favorite controlled-indulgence meal is______?
Alyssa: If I could fit a chipotle burrito in my macros, game on.
DDT: What does Alyssa like to do for fun? Please don’t hold back on us 😉
Alyssa: Train! Haha well I love to dance and to be silly! My idea of fun is probably a little different than most typical 19 year olds. I just really like to enjoy the company of the people around me. I like to go on mini adventures and find different places to hike in San Diego. Back home in Rancho Palos Verdes I would run the trails on the cliffs a lot with friends or in my own time. I also love finding meals on Pinterest and having dinner and movie nights with my roommates.
DDT: Where can our readers and supporters follow you and your work?
Alyssa: They can follow me on Instagram @alyssarose_96 or add me on facebook as Alyssa Rose and my snapchat lyssarose96. I am also thinking about starting a youtube channel soon!