Q. Lets start here, what is your name?
A. Anne-Marie Swisher
Q. How do you start your day? Do you have a morning routine?
A. Coffee breakfast and returning emails to clients before the mad rush of getting my kids to School on time.
Q. How long have you been training?
A. About 5 years seriously. I was a former track athlete.
Q. What made you get into Fitness and Competition?
A. A good friend encouraged me.
Q. How many people have you encouraged into the sport since you started?
A. Hopefully a few 
I am a Strength Coach so some of my clients have decided to compete.
Q. What was your body like before you started training?
A. I was slender. Athletic.
Q. How do you keep yourself motivated and on-track through the grueling dieting in the last few weeks?
A. I turn to my Coach Tad Inoue. He is my mentor and diet coach/ freind. He keeps me focused and balances me when it gets rocky because it always does. My strength Coach Robbie Hebert from A’bear Sports Performance is my other rock. These 2 men stand behind me all the way.
Q. How do you handle the stress of it all?
A. I lift harder.
Q. Do you get more attention from the people now that you are in such good shape?
A. Yes for sure haha!
Q. What do you feel is the most important thing athlete can have in order to be successful in this sport?
A. Passion, patience and perseverance. Be willing to learn.
Q. What is your favorite energy/pre-workout supplement? Protein supplement?
A. Yohimbe and Assault. Post is Coach’s isolated whey from tadthedietcoach.com
Q. How many days a week do you work out?
A. 4 for weights 5 for cardio
Q. How many exercises per body part do you typically do in a workout?
A. 6 – 8
Q. How much weight will you normally gain during the off-season?
A. 10-12 lbs
Q. How about tanning/makeup/hair preparation for a contest. Can you tell that I’m still overwhelmed?
A. There is much to do so I hire professionals. It helps me focus on what I need to do to mentally prepare for the competition and takes the stress off of me.
Q. What is your philosophy on diet?
A. Eat clean limit cheats.
Q. Any holiday eating tips?
A. Eat the veggies and drink plenty of water. Keep up your excersize routine. Do not search for excuses of why you can’t workout that day .
Q. What kind of workout program do you follow?
A. Periodization thru progression.
Q. What about working out while you are on the road?
A. I find my gyms ahead of travelling. I also am a TRX instructor so my TRX suspension trainer always goes with me.
Q. Do you believe in workout programs like Insanity or P90X?
A. I think they are good for the athlete that is pressed for time or can only workout at home.
Q. What competitions have you participated in and what were the results (bikini/fitness/figure)?
A. Figure
2010 Excalibur 7th Masters 8th
2011 Emerald Cup 4th
2011 Charlotte Cup 1st Masters 1st Masters Overall
2011 BMR West Coast Classic 1st Masters 1st Overall Masters
2012 Arnold Amateur 9th
Q. What do you wish you had known before you started doing shows?
A. More does not always equal better.
Q. What do you feel is the most important thing a bodybuilder/fitness/figure/bikini can have in order to be successful in this sport?
A. You have to love and live the sport 24/7. It becomes an extension of you.
Q. Is it not very hard to exercise and lift on such a low calorie diet? I am talking about the pre-contest diet. I know you follow a very low calorie pre-contest diet. Don’t you get hungry?
A. Starving sometimes yes. But the sacrafices with food are so worth it. I tell myself food will always be there.
Q. Does your social life include others that are not into fitness or competition?
A. Yes some of it does.
Q. How much this kind of active life style, being (bikini/fitness/figure) athlete changed your life?
A. Completely . It has given me purpose and helped me learn to love food .
Q. Who is your favorite bodybuilder, fitness model, and/or athlete?
A. Lend Murray, Ava Cowan, Steve Kuclo, and Branch Warren.
Q. What is your favorite healthy meal?
A. Oatmeal
Q. Favorite guilty indulgence?
A. Pizza and Dark Chocolate
Q. What is your favorite exercise?
A. Deadlifts.
Q. What is that one body part that you just can’t seem to bring up or make it look like you want?
A. My outer sweep is slow to come up but it gradually is.
Q. What made you get into Fitness and Competition?
A. I admired the magazines. When I was young. It inspired me.
Q. What is the best asset of your physique/body?
A. I would say my glutes and shoulders.
Q. What are your methods for breaking through a plateau?
A. My Coach is constantly changing my sessions to keep my body guessing.
Q. What are your future plans?
A. I am in the process of designing a website to blog and offer strength Training and diet programs this year.
Q. What do you want our readers to know about you that they couldn’t find out from seeing you on stage or in print?
A. That I bake amazing cakes!
