The journey of Caitlin Rice from fashion model to fitness guru has been one of great introspection.
Now slaying Instagram with well over a million followers, owed to her combination of stunning good looks and rock-hard physique, success came when she ditched skipping meal plates and picked up the gym weights.
Rice, now 29, and a leading personal trainer, found that in her younger days, the pressure to fit into the fashion mold took its toll on her confidence. As a result, Rice’s relationship with her body suffered, but having fallen in love with fitness, her self-worth has improved with every rep. So much so, that Rice is now prepping for her first bodybuilding competition, and finds herself in a position to inspire others that seek to restore a healthy connection between body and mind.
“I had never really worked out, until I started going to my university gym,” says Rice, who studied at Southern Methodist University in her home city of Dallas. “I just ambled around there cluelessly until a trainer stopped me and showed me some exercises. I fell in love with the gym immediately! Lifting weights makes me feel strong and empowered.”
Results took time and perseverance, but her consistency paid off. Now Rice is eager to take her fitness clients on the same journey that she is on. “My own body is a great testament as to what happens when you train consistently and build years of muscle mass, and I lift extremely heavy,” Rice says. “I show my ‘before and after’ shots to clients, and explain the process.”
With healthier, fitter physiques exploding in popularity on social media, Rice has been one of the pioneering forces to promote a strong and sexy physique. “When I was growing up, it was all about the waifish, super-skinny model look … no curves,” she says. “And now, looking FIT is sexy! Promoting health as something attractive is super positive! Embracing your curves, building a healthy and strong looking body, in my opinion, is the most empowering thing that a woman can do for herself. Strong is DEF sexy.”
Rice’s popping glutes, bulging quads, and broad shoulders are the culmination of strict self-accountability, serving as inspiration that if you are willing to put the work in, the gains will come. “You have to want it bad enough,” Rice says. “You need to have a growth mindset, and really be in this, not just for the physical transformation, but the inner transformation as well. Too often, people want a quick and easy fix but don’t want to do the work. But you appreciate the results way more, when you’ve struggled and worked your ass off for it. No one is coming to save you, and no one can put the work in for you. I can give you the tools but it’s up to you to use, and apply them.”
Rice says that a balanced physique takes specific and deliberate action. A great example of this is her back. “I currently do two back days per week,” she says. “I’ll do Tuesday and Saturday. One day is row, for mid and lower back, and the other day is upper back, lateral head focused.”
In terms of nutrition, Rice is keeping a keen eye on her macros, as she is now in prep for her first bodybuilding competition. But with a busy schedule, Rice is learning to be flexible in how she meets those nutrient targets. “It just depends on my day,” Rice says. “I’m always trying to hit my macros so, sometimes if my days are long and busy, I’ll combine meals, or eat less or more frequently. I’ll have two low-carb days, one medium day, and one day that is high carb. It’s a four-day cycle, and I just keep repeating it. I keep it super-simple and get all my macros from only a few foods”.
Rice gets her protein from lean ground turkey, grilled chicken breast, and egg whites. When it comes to carbohydrates, she likes oats, jasmine rice, rice cakes, and potatoes. Rice is also a fan of all-natural nut butter for consuming healthy fats. “This is competition prep though,” she says. “So, I add a variety of things, when I am not prepping for a show!”
Getting to know Rice, you get the feeling that wherever she places in her first competition, her love of the process is what makes participation so important. “I try my hardest to inspire women on social media, and to lead by example,” says Rice I want women to look at me and be like ‘wow’, if she can do it, so can I. I want to give women their power back!
