Samantha Sage Interview

Photo Credits:
Photos 1-2: Kevin Kruger Photography
Photos 3-5: RX Muscle/Lloyd Terry Jr.


After someone mentioned to her at the gym that she should try competing, Samantha Sage was instantly interested. She has put the foundation she built through gymnastics to good use and has done quite well in a short time including just recently winning teen figure at the Texas Shredder and also was the only competitor to compete in fitness. She is now getting ready for the Ronnie Coleman Classic and then Jr. USA's. At such a young age, the sky is the limit for Samantha and how far she can go.

Q: Can you talk about how you got started in the gym?
A: I got started in the gym right out of high school. I was a gymnast my whole life so I just trained for gymnastics pretty much. After I finished high school I started working out in the gym a little more to maintain my gymnastics body. I didn't know what I was doing with the weights, I just suck to cardio. Then I started working in a World Gym and was introduced to the whole competition world. One of the trainers noticed I had a good physique and told me I should do a competition. I didn't know two things about it but they told me about it and it sounded like something I would want to do. I was pretty much all in before I knew anything about it and was training for something that I didn't know too much about. I didn't even go watch a show before I decided to do one. I started training and didn't know if I would do bikini or figure. I first planned on bikini and as I started to diet down we discovered all the muscle I had under the layers of fat so we decided I would do figure. That is when I entered the Ms. Buffalo last March.

Q: When you decided to compete, did anyone close to you react negative to it?
A: Friends of mine would try and get me to go out with them all the time. Trying to get them to understand what I was doing was extremely difficult and it took a very long time for them to understand. They were asking "why?" and now I have them all asking me how?" they can do this. They would constantly say things like "why cant you come out and drink water, there is zero calories." They didn't understand that all the amount of energy to get through one day of workouts and nutrition and work, all the things I was doing, let alone go out and have alcohol which is just a simple ball of sugar. Friends were hard to deal with at the time but now they understand me and what I do.

Q: Being so young, do you ever feel like you are missing out on the things people your age do in order for you to live this lifestyle?
A: Not at all! I am not missing out at all. I think that that is a waste of time. I get to go out and celebrate when there is a real reason, for example when I win a show. I get to go out and celebrate and have my fun and jump back into training for my next show. Like last week, I won my show, went and had my fun and it felt like I deserved to go out and not just going out for no reason and wasting time and money.

Q: For that first show in Buffalo, were you nervous?
A: A little bit. Like I said, I had never even been to a show before I got on stage. I didn't know what to expect. I had seen pictures and knew what I was in for. I was a little nervous about posing, we could have practiced more. The way that coach did things at the time, he just threw things together and wasn't organized. But other than that I felt confident, I knew I was at my best and did my best. Like he told me, competing is a marathon, all the hard work is done, on the day of the show you cross the finish line and present your hard work.

Q: You just did the Texas Shredder, you won teen figure and were the only girl to do fitness, how happy were you with the package you brought to the stage?
A: I was proud but not satisfied.

Q: In doing fitness, does it bother you that at such a big show, no one else did fitness?
A: Not at all. I loved it because I knew that I was the one who went the whole nine yards. In my opinion, bikini girls don't have to train as hard as figure. The fitness girls, it is the whole nine yards, you have to train hard, diet hard, and routine training. That is what I love doing, I love performing, I love gymnastics. Where I am training now, I get to incorporate all my gymnastic skills and I get to train like an athlete, not so much like a bodybuilder.

Q: Long term, do you see yourself focusing more on fitness or figure or when you can, do them both?
A: Definitely fitness. I loved it, I had so much fun performing. I was always that little kid during gymnastics and cheerleading that would be doing flips and saying "mom watch me do this." Whoever wanted to be my audience, I would perform. I love fitness, it makes everything worth it. That will be my main focus in the long run. I am doing the Ronnie Coleman in two weeks and for that show I will do figure and fitness and then after that is Jr. USA's and that will be strictly fitness.

Q: For someone so new, you looked extremely confident, were you as confident as you looked?
A: I honestly could not have been more confident. My coach Kalani Barber- she is an IFBB figure pro- was by me the entire time and could not have made me feel any more calm and collected. Now, I have another two weeks of training and dieting and I know my next show it will only be better. Each show I have a goal of things I want to make better.

Q: For the Ronnie Coleman, where do you want to be better?
A: My goals right now are more focused towards Jr. USA's, that is what I have been working for for so long and am putting everything into, but before that is the Ronnie Coleman. For that show I would like to see my routine a little better, a little tighter, I did put some more advanced skills in. I have another two weeks after that to work harder for Jr. USA's to tighten up my skills and tighten up my physique.

Q: With Jr. USA's being a National show, do you think you might be a little more nervous than previous shows?
A: Maybe a little bit but I am gonna try my best to stay calm and collected and I know I have worked as hard as I can and did my very best and should be able to stay confident.

Q: When you are training at the gym, do you get the stares and attention from people?
A: I do! I used to train at an L.A. Fitness, a big chain gym. People would make me feel uncomfortable there. I wasn't comfortable training there because everyone stared at me and I knew they were. When I met my coaches Kalani and Heath, they own a gym in Katy, Texas called Cinco Fit, it is my second home, a small little studio gym that has everything we need to train. It has a big open space for me to work on routines and everyone is like family and knows what I do. For example on shoulder day, I will train really hard and burn them out and then run to the floor and do handstand push-ups or flips, whatever I want. A lot of gyms are too busy for things like that.

Q: If you could spend a day training with someone you have never trained with, who would it be?
A: I am really luck to train with an IFBB pro as my coach and I love working with her. She does incorporate my gymnastics in my training like no trainer has done before. She gives me supersets like squats and have me do standing back tucks, she knows I love that stuff. Other than that, I look up to Jodi Boam. I love her style of training and her routines are awesome. I have seen her v-logs and would love to spend a day training with her.

Q: Anyone you want to thank?
A: Kalani Barber, she has been by my side the entire time. My mom who keeps me going every day. She tells me to stop and smell the flowers. Heath Purcell, he is my nutrition coach and Kalani's fiance. Also Hoss Choreography, he did my choreography.