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ay Jones started competing by accident, really. After a
particularly bad breakup, she found her way into a gym
and started lifting. “I decided to take time to take care of
myself, and I became addicted to training — I love the way
I feel when I am in the zone at the gym,” Jones says. “As women, we
get caught up in being moms, wives, sisters and employees, and we
forget about ourselves because we are pouring so much into others. It’s
not selfi sh to take an hour out of your day for your health.” Jones also
changed her diet and people started to ask if she was getting ready to
compete. “I had no idea what they meant,” she says, laughing. “I was
lost, so I asked a friend who competed in men’s physique to show me
the ropes, and I haven’t looked back since.”
Jones won her class her fi rst time out a few months later, and she
started to think she might be good at this. Two week later, she com-
Feminine muscle
IFBB Figure pro Nay Jones
turned a bad situation into a
new lifestyle and catapulted
into the fi tness spotlight.NAY JONES’ FAVORITE HITECH PRODUCT
“When I’m prepping for a contest, I will take my Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals Hydroxy
Elite fat burner because the thermogenics really help me sweat during my workout.”
spotlight NAY JONES By Maureen Farrar
peted in the Jay Cutler Classic and won her class again.
Feeling confi dent, she competed in the NPC Nationals
two weeks later and placed fourth in the nation —
exactly six months to the day she started lifting.
After her back-to-back wins, Nay Jones (real name
Renée), 31, took time off to address the critiques the
NPC judges gave her so she could compete for her IFBB
Figure pro card the following year, a feat she accom-
plished in late 2016. “I love Figure,” the Hi-Tech/APS
Nutrition–sponsored athlete says enthusiastically. “I
think of it as feminine muscle. The physiques are very
balanced. There’s something so graceful about cross-
ing the stage in your heels and suit, showing all the
curves you have built.” Naturally muscular, it would
seem natural to move into women’s Physique, but she
believes Figure not only has the most sex appeal, but it
also best displays the hard work athletes put in.
When she’s not onstage, the mom of an 8-year-old
daughter works for her own online training company,
coaching and prepping clients all over the world. She
also works as a personal trainer. “I honestly enjoy
coaching more than competing,” she says. To that
end, Jones plans to earn more certifi cations so she can
become an even better coach and trainer.
Jones’ large social media following takes inspiration
from her, and she makes sure to reach out to her fans,
knowing that she is a role model in the industry. And
who are her role models? “Latorya Watts for being
the fi rst black Ms. Figure Olympia and for paving the
way for so many of us who needed to put a face to the
goal,” Jones says. She also looks up to Lenda Murray
“for showing us that muscle is hot and women can go
just as hard as men.”
Depending on where she is in her training, Jones
will typically eat six to seven times a day. At press time, she was
prepping for a show, so she was eating lots of protein and minimal
carbs to reduce body fat for the stage. When asked how she sticks
with her nutrition plan, she says, “The key is meal prepping. If you
don’t prepare your meals, it’s easier to cheat or skip your meal, both
of which are bad options.” That doesn’t mean she doesn’t cheat,
though. “I absolutely believe in cheat meals — during the off sea-
son! I typically eat clean all year, but during the off season, I will
tempt myself with a Five Guys bacon cheeseburger!”
We asked her to share her best advice for fi tness and life, and she
told us, “If you want something bad enough, you’ll fi nd a way. If
not, you’ll fi nd an excuse and that’s just not good enough. My par-
ents never let me settle for making excuses for things. Hard work is
always rewarded. Sometimes you just have to keep pushing.”Courtesy of Nay Jones