Every year, thousands of people compete to become Bodybuilding.com spokesmodels. One thing they all have in common is a desire to help other people—not just themselves—move closer to their fitness goals. This year, 20,000 inspirational people entered! We thank all of you who took the time and made the effort to enter this grueling competition!
It was our job here at Bodybuilding.com to bring that huge number down to a small group of semifinalists. Then, it was your votes that got us to the final 10: five men and five women. From there, the annual Bodybuilding.com Spokesmodel Contest culminated in a whirlwind of photo shoots, interviews, and a competition held at the L.A. Fit Expo.
Meet our 2017 Bodybuilding.com Spokesmodel Contest winners, Christie Bailey and Nick Cheadle!
Christie Bailey: Passing on Positivity
Christie Bailey followed an unusual path to become our 2017 spokesmodel. Raised in Washington, D.C., Christie applied to colleges far and wide, and in the end, chose a school in Switzerland. While she was still in school, her father sent her a book that introduced her to the world of weights and nutrition—and pointed her to the Bodybuilding.com site, which turned out to be a very useful tip.
Christie's next step was to learn how to actually lift weights.
"At first, I would go to my local gym, bring up the Bodybuilding Exercise Database on my phone, and go into the bathroom to study an exercise," she says. "Then, I'd come back out and try to imitate what I saw on the site. It was just really intimidating for me to be alone in a foreign country, unable to speak the language, and trying to learn all these exercises from scratch."
But Christie persisted because it felt so good to use the weights. Lifting gave her confidence and empowerment, and she knew from the start that she wanted to do it for the rest of her life. Transforming herself into a physique model has been a joy, but her main goal is to be positive and help others feel that way.
"I want to share the feeling of positivity to help other people take that next step in their lives," she says. "Maybe they're already close to their goal and just need a little push. If I can help them get there, that's awesome!"
Nick Cheadle: Motivating Others to Move Ahead
Nick Cheadle is pretty upfront about his original motivation to get into training. "I was looking for a way to make a little extra money while I was going to university," Nick says. "I started competing to win a bet with a friend who said he could get on the cover of a fitness magazine before I did. I won that bet!"
As with so many people who make the switch from simply lifting to competitive bodybuilding, Nick soon discovered that he was interested in broader goals than just working on his physique; he wanted to learn how to be better both inside and outside the gym. After refining his own routines and his diet, he started to wonder how he could help other people get past all the misinformation and learn how to train in a sustainable way.
"One of my biggest goals is to help people who are working hard in the gym but struggling to find a way forward. I know how they feel," he says. "I tried every trick in the book to get a six-pack and got really frustrated in the process. I want to help other people avoid what I went through and help them along the road."
For the past nine years, Nick has worked out of a gym in his native Australia as a coach and trainer. He's now expanding into online training as well.
"I tell my clients they can achieve their personal goals no matter how ambitious those goals are. You just have to prioritize your time and then use that time to work hard toward what you want. It's not easy, but the effort you put into it will come back to you again and again."