Photography:
Nelson Azevedo
FAST FACTS
Name: Samantha Lee Carbone
City: Adelaide, SA
Occupation: Interior Designer
Age: 29
Height: 157cm
Weight: 51kgCONNECT WITH SAMANTHA
Instagram: @samantha_lee7She joined a 12-week
fitness challenge simply
to get fit and look better
in a bikini — and now
Samantha Lee Carbone
is the reigning overall
WFF SA Bikini champ.
Samantha
Lee Carbone
M
y life before training was
filled with a lot of unhealthy
eating and endless hours running
on the treadmill. Changing my
eating and training habits opened my life up
— I’ve accomplished many things that I would
have never been able to if I was still stuck in my
old lifestyle.
A pivotal moment for me was when joined a
12-week challenge based in Adelaide, because
I really wanted to feel more confident in a
bikini. I would rarely wear a bikini in front
of people, as I was very self-conscious. I had
never done weights before. I was always scared
of the weights room, as I didn’t want to get too
bulky and not look feminine. It did take a little
while to get used to the exercises, but after four
weeks my form had improved dramatically,
and I was able to lift more weight.
I find the most rewarding aspect of training
is setting goals and achieving them. Every day
is different, and my body’s strength varies.
Some days I will smash my PBs and some days I
can’t even get close.
My motivation is trying to be the best version
of myself. I’ve recently competed in INBA and
WFF Asia Pacific bodybuilding competitions.
Competing has helped me to keep on track and
has motivated me to chase my dreams. I have
also learnt things about myself that I would
never have known if I didn’t push my body to
its limits; competing tests you mentally and
physically.
Mentally, I learnt how strong and powerful
my mind is — not everyone will get to the end
of prep. There are so many things that will
test you, but you learn to be strong and keep
powering on to the finish line.
The first time I decided to compete wasspontaneous and I wasn’t sure what I was
getting myself into. I trained with many girls
who had competed in the past and I decided to
give it a go. I would never have pictured myself
competing, but I was finally at a point in my life
where I liked how my body was looking.
Stepping on stage every time is so rewarding.
I could finally celebrate all the sweat, tears,
and sacrifices I had made to be up there. People
always ask why I do it — I do it because there
is no better feeling than standing up on stage
proud of how far you have come.
I did a 16-week prep leading up to the WFF
SA state titles in 2017. My coach was Samuel
Mussard, a vegan Pro bodybuilder from
Adelaide. After competing in two previous
seasons, I was able to realise my mistakes and
didn’t need to do harsh dieting to get to stage.
For the first two months, I was building calories
and just eating a healthy lifestyle with a few
cheat meals on the weekend; these only came
when I had a good drop in body fat for that
week. Fasted cardio was introduced later in my
prep to help kick the last bits of unwanted fat
without sacrificing calories. The last few weeks
of comp prep were very hard as I was craving
junk food and missing my social life.
After the first round, where I placed first in
Bikini Short, I was filled with excitement and I
couldn’t wait to get back up there for my next
round. Then first in Bikini Open gave me a spot
in the overall line-up, which hadn’t happened
to me before. Taking out the Bikini Overall title
was the best feeling in the world, knowing that
everything I had sacrificed for the past 16 weeks
was all worth it.
The journey was great, and I would (and
hopefully will at the WBFF in 2018!) do it all
over again.